Ambitious and Routine Tasks for Integrating Technology in Schools: Stories of Two Rural Public Schools in India

• Main Author: Rawat, Tanushree
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2020
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Access to Computers; Classrooms; Educational leadership; Educational Quality; Educational Resources; Educational technology; Grade 2; Individualized Instruction; Informal Education; National Surveys; Rural Schools; Skill Development; South Asian Studies; Student Interests; Student Needs; Thinking Skills
• ISBN: 9798557037365

Knowing how to use digital technologies to pursue interests and create academic, civil, and economic opportunities is critical to meet the demands of the 21st century workplace. In India, the digital divide exists, as reflected both in the lack of infrastructure and the lack of knowledge needed to use that infrastructure to pursue one’s interests. At the same time, there are examples of enterprising educators and organizations working to bring digital infrastructure and build digital skills in students in public schools in India. In this dissertation, I examine tasks done by educators at two rural public schools which had partnered with the Integrated Technology in Education project, run by the Tata Trusts. I present a framework of ambitious and routine tasks that integrate technology such as laptops, computers, and the internet to understand technology integration in the above context. At these schools, digital tools were being used in three ways: as gateway tasks for explicit technological skill development, as academic tasks to ensure that students were using technological infrastructure for learning academic content, and as agency building tasks to foster teacher and student agency to direct student learning experiences. All of these tasks can be ambitious or routine depending on the context in which they happen. I also document challenges encountered by educators in seeking to integrate technologies. This dissertation study is not an evaluation. I do not try to pass a judgement on the nature of digital technology use by educators at these schools. Instead, I focus on finding and sharing narratives of technology integration happening in academic settings in rural public schools in order to highlight everyday scenarios and challenges faced while using technology.