Keeping the Sociotechnical Affectability of Education in Perspective

The Study by Definition

In their research, Hayashi and Baranauskas (2013) contend that understanding the meanings of formal and informal learning could help introduce digital technologies inside contemporary schooling. Accordingly, by definition, understanding both would require a study focusing on the sociotechnical perspective of the problem, or rather the relationship between a society or group's social and technical aspects. Further, since cultures vary, language and symbols play a large part in mutual understanding, and the thought put into the study's design. 

 

Describing Sociotechnical Plan

Schools must incorporate technological advances critically and democratically (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2013). Though technology is integrated with our lives, how it appears in education does not seem to be connected to the contemporary style of life. Moreover, while many children are born in cultures where technology is naturally part of the environment, part of the population still has limited or no access to it, such as Brazil. However, simply bringing an unfamiliar technology to a school doesn't necessarily solve the gap and appear detached from the school's reality. 

 

Since Hayashi and Baranauskas' (2013) study took place at a public elementary in São Paulo, Brazil, the cultural aspect had to be considered to build a perspective that made sense for using technology. Hayashi and Baranauskas also assert that affectibility (good or bad responses evoked from the users) should be considered in the context of educational technology. They proposed the concept as a guide to how their design of system-user interaction may be treated and argue that this perspective is needed for the seamless integration of technology into the contemporary school. 

 

Critique of the Presented Plan

Hayashi and Baranauskas' (2013) study provides valid and insightful information to educational and research communities. A perfect example can be found in use case 1, "Transforming homework assignments," students could find resources with the XO Project laptops that they could not find at home and in the classroom. This also allowed for more face time interactions with the assignment, teacher, and student that generally would have required the task to be completed as homework and missing the gratification of instant validation. Working on the premise of visual learning, in use case 2, "Integrating the School in Interdisciplinary Activities," children could use their laptop's webcam to take pictures of various labels and signs to correlate their language better to English. As the title suggests, for the third use case, the children, working with their XO laptops both inside and outside the school's walls, exhibited values like ownership, responsibility, and autonomy as they discussed and showed off their systems to bystanders. Finally, "student volunteers" in use case 4 highlighted the power of community and pride, featuring students acting as technical support for their peers and faculty alike in the wake of the lack of adult resources to handle the technological load for the school.

The key to it all resides in the differences of cultures and breaking down those barriers within context to obtain accurate results in each of their use-cases (Hayashi & Baranauskas, 2013). The biggest challenge stemmed from resources and São Paulo's communication infrastructure, followed by the culture of trust with items of value. Despite these challenges, each of the presented use-cases showcased breakthroughs and success.

 

References

Hayashi, E. C. S., & Baranauskas, M. C. (2013). Affectibility in educational technologies: A socio-technical perspective for design. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 16(1), 57-8. https://coloradotech.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/affectibility-educational-technologies-socio/docview/1287029534/se-2