Inquire, connect and disconnect: Technology implementation to engage post-pandemic students

A recurring issue classroom teachers face is engaging their students and digital technology is often viewed as a tool to enhance student engagement. Prior research on digital technology and student engagement consists of the views of educators. Research that does represent student voice is composed...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Forum on public policy 2023-03
Main Author: Sharma, Sunaina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Epidemics
High schools
Social networks
Students
Teachers
Technology application
United Kingdom
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Summary:A recurring issue classroom teachers face is engaging their students and digital technology is often viewed as a tool to enhance student engagement. Prior research on digital technology and student engagement consists of the views of educators. Research that does represent student voice is composed of the voices of elementary and post-secondary students thus, negating the voice of secondary students. This research sought to answer the following research question: how does the use of digital technology in the secondary classroom engage students? This research amplifies the voice of secondary students by weaving research data from a mixed-methods classroom ethnography. The data includes questionnaires, conversations, field notes and reflective journals. To extend on the research, data obtained before the pandemic woven with reflections and observations gained from the researcher's experiences as a post-pandemic classroom teacher in a secondary school leads to an enhanced understanding of how digital technology can be used to support student engagement in today's post-pandemic classroom. The results reveal that there has been a commonplace assumption that digital technology inherently engages students; however, this research debunks this assumption. Technology contributes to engagement when it allows students to construct their own knowledge or co-construct knowledge with their peers. Further, this research affirms that students' technology does distract them from their learning; however, the research reveals that students want their classroom teacher to interject when they are distracted by providing them with strategies they can use to resist the lure of technology. Keywords: constructivism, classroom technology, digital technology, student engagement, ethnography, secondary students
ISSN:1556-763X