Teachers’ Interpretations of the Internet. An Applied Case Study for the Evaluation of Technological Frames of Reference

• Published in: Informatics in education 2012-01, Vol.11 (2), p.151-167
• Main Author: Camilleri, Patrick
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Language; Access to Computers; Applied sciences; appropriation; Articulated; Biological and medical sciences; Case Studies; Cognitive Structures; College Faculty; College professors; Computer Attitudes; Computer science; control theory; systems; Computer systems and distributed systems. User interface; contextualisation; Education; Educational technology; enactment; Ergonomics. Human factors; Exact sciences and technology; Firm modelling; Foreign Countries; Frames; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Inclination; Information systems; Internet; interpretations; Lenses; Malta; Mathematical analysis; Occupational psychology; Occupational training. Personnel. Work management; Operational research and scientific management; Operational research. Management science; organisations; Organizational behavior; Perspective Taking; Physics; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Qualitative Research; Science Instruction; Science Teachers; Semi Structured Interviews; Social Cognition; Software; Teacher Attitudes; Teachers; Technical Education; Technology Integration; Technology Uses in Education
• ISSN: 1648-5831; 2335-8971
• DOI: 10.15388/infedu.2012.08

In 1994 Orlikowski and Gash articulated Technological Frames of Reference as a systematic theoretical lens to examine technological developments in organisations. A decade later, in 2004, Davidson and Pai expressed concern that while the lens was widely cited in academic discourse, the incidence and adoption of the model as an analytical framework for socio-cognitive analysis and interpretation of Information Technology in organisations was very low. As Technology Frame Research becomes more meaningfully applicable with our ever increasing attachment towards technology, I present a case study with the aim of augmenting research in the field. By employing a qualitative methodological framework based on technological frames I evaluate interpretations on the Internet embraced within a group of teachers before the implementation of the technology on campus. Emerging data suggests how appropriated traits and embedded inclinations towards a technology justify the predisposition of diverse interpretations by one person reminiscent to the context it is being articulated in.