Abstracts Category : Other

Empowering rural children's learning through meaningfultechnology-enhanced learning designs

by Pilco Sdenka Salas

Rural schools in the Peruvian Andes are attended byindigenous children belonging to Andean communities of ancestralculture and different worldviews. In the last decade, results ofnational tests have shown a rural educational achievement gap. Toovercome this problem, the government created several projects,including one, implemented in 2008, involving the use of newtechnologies in rural schools to provide more equitable qualityeducation; however, the academic gap has continued to increase.Moreover, rural communities are concerned about the offerededucation, which is neither contextualized nor fits thecommunities needs. According to several studies the problemwith rural education lies in contents and approaches that arealienating and disempowering learners. Therefore, the aim of thisqualitative study is to design socioculturally sensitive learningenvironments and learning activities for empowering rural childrenby using the new technologies and learning science. In other words,the study explores alternative solutions and learning spaces acrosshome, school, community and beyond, to empower learners, whichmeans building and increasing learners competence, participation,and choices through meaningful learning. The study usedDesign-Based Research (DBR) methodology, and was implemented in onerural school; the intervention was guided by design principles thatwere refined through three iterations throughout the 2013 schoolyear. A total of 25 learning designs were developed. Technological,and sociocultural artifacts supported the childrens learning. Datawere collected through learning activities observations, focusgroup interviews, and childrens physical and digital works. Itwas found that (a) the learning design structure was composed offive learning activity blocks, including identifying interests,planning, implementing, sharing, and reflecting; (b) three genericdesign patterns emerged (individual-, local-, and global oriented);and, (c) there were three stages of empowermenttop-down,co-participation, and self-directed. Additionally, the studyadapted three taxonomies sensorimotor, socio-emotional, andcognitiveto demonstrate childrens learning outcomes obtainedthrough a process of empowerment. The learning outcomes wereanalyzed to identify the levels of empowerment, and it was foundthat the implemented learning designs fostered empowerment. Therelationship between learning outcomes and empowerment wasdemonstrated through childrens competence, choice orself-determination, and participation in the decision-makingprocess for their own learning. Findings reveal that learnersempowerment was gradual, and reached the highest levels of learningoutcomes. Also, childrens personal trajectories showed differentpathways, and paces towards their empowerment. This studycontributes theoretically, pedagogically, and methodologically tounderstanding rural childrens empowerment process. Theoretically,it confirms the theory of psychological empowerment, and alsoenhances three