Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > Life transitions, learning and digital technolo...
View graph of relations

Life transitions, learning and digital technologies: common threads and conceptions

Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSNChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

Published
Publication date5/12/2014
Host publicationKey competencies in ICT and informatics. Implications and issues for educational professionals and management: IFIP WG 3.4/3.7 International Conferences, KCICTP and ITEM 2014, Potsdam, Germany, July 1-4, 2014, Revised Selected Papers
EditorsDon Passey, Arthur Tatnall
Place of PublicationBerlin
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages139-149
Number of pages11
ISBN (electronic)9783662457702
ISBN (print)9783662457696
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Publication series

NameIFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology
PublisherSpringer
Volume444
ISSN (Print)1868-4238

Abstract

This positional paper opened a symposium within the Information Technology in Educational Management (ITEM) strand of the IFIP KEYCIT conference in Potsdam, Germany, on 2nd July 2014. The key question asked, across the seven papers presented and included as chapters in this book, was: how do digital technologies support life transitions? The argument within this initial positional paper asked a pre-requisite question: what are life transitions, and how might they be connected to digital technologies and learning? Life transitions can occur at different times across a lifespan, and different technologies may be used by those involved, not only according to the age of the learner, but also according to their needs. Temporal shifts as learning technologies develop make their influences on life transitions difficult to generalise or even to monitor; affordances and facilities that learners can use over time, and which they can apply to their life transition needs, change, as digital technologies are diversified. This paper considers features and factors that affect learners in their uses of digital technologies in life transition settings. A framework for exploring the ways learners might use digital technologies within life transitions will be developed; other papers within the symposium explore factors and features in a variety of more specific settings and detail.