ICT alone is not enough, the whole village is needed. A community-based and dialogic approach to technology in schools

Abstract

The socio-cultural context shapes learning and development. Thus, schools cannot ignore neither the transformations shaping their surrounding societies, but be an active part of them, nor what those transformations mean for school learning. In this regard, technology has changed the way we think and learn, and learning has been shown to be deeply linked to the community of which we are part. However, benefits of involving the community in the ICT use in schools are barely explored in the literature; this article is aimed to shed some light on that aspect. We draw from a successful case, the Ariño school, and based on the dialogic learning theoretical framework, different strategies that promote a dialogic use of ICT are presented: community involvement in self-sufficient classrooms, community involvement outside the school settings, and community digital literacy. This analysis leads to the proposal of a community-based and dialogic approach to technology in schools.