4.3.2. The Sources of the Learners’ Interest in Technology and ICT Knowledge (Study3RQ2)

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The participants expressed very different sources of their interest in technology, but most experiences are not linked to their secondary education. Perhaps this is so because they experienced how technology has become part of life when they were attending secondary education, as expressed by Iván and András. Zsóka and András said that their interest originates from their families, one of András’ parents is an online journalist. András added that it was a special experience for him to live through the development of technology, and while he claimed it never reached a point of addiction, in secondary school, what technological devices one had was kind of a status symbol. Sándor’s interest was access to knowledge, and gradually the possibility of conducting online lessons, while Iván mentioned that his interests were founded in video games.

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Ágota expressed that during those rare occasions when technology was present in her secondary education, what she reflectively lacked was explicit instruction concerning the advantages of technology in learning. She said, “[i]n primary school, children are not developed enough to have an awareness of how to combine technology and learning, […] but it becomes extremely important in secondary school”. The participants expressed how important it was for them to constantly develop their knowledge in the field of recent technologies and that ICT devices and technological possibilities such as the Internet can be excellent means of constant self-development (Iván, Olga, Sándor, Tímea). Tímea said that the knowledge they offered in her secondary school could have easily been transformed to be more technology inclusive. As she put it, “I don’t see any insufficiency in [people’s knowledge of] writing emails, but I see insufficiency in how those emails look like”, and that supplementing the customs of formal letter writing with formal email writing in schools could prove to be a major advantage, which would only require certain adjustments to the scope of the material.

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The participants also reflected on the importance of digital competences. Zsóka goes to lengths to protect her personal data and never saves passwords on websites she does not trust. Andrea likes trying out new technologies through personal recommendations from others who had good experiences with them. Olga also pays much attention to what personal information a website or device requires to be used and what information about her these services has access to. When it comes to finding reliable online sources, apart from recommendation, Diána frequently looks for evidence how trustworthy an online medium is, such as author information and website security certificate.
 

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4.3.2.1 Discussion. The participants voiced that technology had never been an integrated part of their primary and secondary studies, partly because the importance and territorial gain of technology occurred as they were growing up. Participants’ general interest in technology manifested in mirroring family members’ interest in technology, peer pressure and extramural activities. While extramural learning about technology can be an advantage for learners in the future, there is no guarantee that hobby use of devices would directly result in knowledge gains (Benson, 2013; Lajtai, 2020) because use is only arbitrary and there is no reflection made to its dos and don’ts. The literature confirms the importance of family patterns as well as role models (Sáinz et al., 2012) in developing positive attitudes and important digital competences, but as educational policy focuses on the importance of techno-inclusive education, more progress should be made towards including technology and digital competences education. The Hungarian National Curriculum now includes a subject, Digital Culture, to be taught between grades three to 11 (Hungarian Official Gazette, 2020); however, this initiative can only meet its educational potential if there are enough subject experts to teach this new subject (Graham et al., 2012; Tsai & Chai, 2012).

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Moreover, this step of including a transversal technological subject should ideally be only the first, as technology-inclusion is best if it is part of students’ subject instructions (Dringó-Horváth & Gonda, 2018; M. Pintér, 2019; Tóth-Mózer, 2014), and transversal subjects can result only in moderate success when it comes to developing digital competences and digital study skills (Park & Son, 2020). While most interview participants expressed that they are competent in the field of digital safety, they lacked its explicit instruction, and their knowledge is mainly based on experience. To raise digitally aware citizens who have positive attitudes towards technology and are able to display their digital competences, schools should establish the necessary support systems to meet these demands.
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