Albin Wallace: EdD research Student

Email: albin.wallace@church-schools.com

Supervisor: Dr. Julia Davies

Working Title of thesis:
A comparison of children´s in school and out of school use of the internet: the coherence of the inchoate

Details:

This thesis examines and compares the in -school and out-of –school use of the internet by a sample of 883 year seven students from a group of demographically different schools. In comparing this usage a number of questions are asked about similarities and differences in behavior and lessons to be learned.

Previous research and recent writings on this topic are examined and a theoretical framework is formed that eclectically draws on a number of sources, including postmodern authors. Similarly, an eclectic methodology is used incorporating an online survey of students, group interviews and analysis of computer logs.

At the top level of questioning, the main research question for this thesis was phrased as: How do year seven children use the internet both in-school and out-of-school? This was broken down into four subsidiary questions which were:

• How is out-of-school internet behaviour of year 7 students similar to in-school internet behaviour?
• How does out-of-school internet behaviour of year 7 students differ from in-school behaviour?
• If the behaviour of year 7 students differs, is this important?
• Do schools have something to learn from home practice (and vice versa)?

Impact

All the students included in the sample were from schools with good internet provision and it also appeared that children also generally immersed in the internet in their out of school contexts. In this sense, perhaps the internet is a non-issue, being such a natural part of their lives that it holds no awe or surprise for them. This contrasts with my own response, where I am still easily impressed by new internet-based applications. The danger is that school and home practices will diverge to the point where school use becomes increasingly irrelevant to children´s lives.