Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/66954
Title: Making children's voices count
Authors: Hillman, Velislava
Keywords: Educational technology
Education -- Effect of technological innovations on
Continuing education
Issue Date: 2020
Publisher: University of Malta
Citation: Hillman, V. (2020). Making children's voices count. THINK Magazine, 31, 46-47.
Abstract: I want to become a YouTuber, says Edgar (not his real name), a nine-year-old (at the time of this research) from a Maltese private primary school. ‘I really like that people will watch me. It will be quite fun.’ The next moment, the boy, much taller than the rest of his classmates, expresses sadness. ‘I’d like to keep it a secret,’ he suddenly adds, ‘Because they [his parents] won’t want me to be that, so when I grow up they will not have any choice but will comply. I think they want me to be a scientist or [something] like that…’ Edgar is not alone in exemplifying how networked technologies become a conduit of possibilities for young people. Children use their devices to learn how to draw, read about diseases and warplanes, make miniature movies about things they find funny, or sing along to favourite artists. To make sense of children’s networked worlds spanning across classroom walls, I (Dr Velislava Hillman, Harvard University) carried out a qualitative nation-wide research in Malta during 2014–2016. I wanted to find out how seven- to ten-year-olds use digital media inside and outside classrooms, and how parents’ and educators’ react. Most researchers focus on networked technologies’ effect on children’s psychological and socio-emotional wellbeing and development. Knowing how much knowledge there is on the risks, I focused on the opportunities and developed a theoretical model for fostering creative production, which could easily be applied to the mainstream ICT curriculum.
URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/66954
ISSN: 2306-0735
Appears in Collections:Think Magazine, Issue 31
Think Magazine, Issue 31

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