Shifting Educational Behaviours : The Real Impact of Digital Technologies

Passey, Don (2026) Shifting Educational Behaviours : The Real Impact of Digital Technologies. Springer Verlag, Cham. ISBN 9783032189417

Abstract

The uses of digital technologies have continued to not only blur boundaries, but to encourage communication and discussion across those boundaries. Whether those boundaries are considered as country or state boundaries, or school or home boundaries, we see increased forms of communication. Those increased forms of communication might be through social media, emails, or the sharing of documents, but in all cases the boundary itself becomes blurred as it is seen to become more seamless. Educators in one country now communicate online with educators in other countries through videoconferencing, for example, while parents and guardians may use email or social media to increasing extents, to communicate with the school where their children are supported. Teachers also increasingly find that communication with their learners may now involve more online interaction. The ideas of ‘hard boundaries’ are being questioned and reduced by the uses of communication technologies. This being the case, if behaviours are shifting, and if the future of those shifting behaviours is to be adequately considered, then a view across those boundaries needs to be taken. In this way, a systemic approach is needed when exploring the current and future contexts of educational practices and development. In this book, a systemic approach is taken. Whilst teaching and learning behaviours that are influenced by digital technology uses are at the core of this concern, the ways that those behaviours involve and are influenced by those who support teaching and learning also need to be taken into account. To consider this systemic perspective, educational behaviours of parents and guardians and advisers and policy makers are explored. Behaviours are not therefore limited to learning and teaching, to learners and teachers, but also concern support and policy behaviours that relate to parents and guardians and advisers and policymakers. An aspect of education that is not explored in this text is assessment; in itself, this aspect is worthy of in-depth exploration that goes beyond the realms of this text. In this book, Chaps. 1–4 provide an introduction and explore how learning and teaching behaviours are currently conceived and described, considering the impacts of emerging technologies on educational behaviours, the impacts of past and present digital technologies on educational behaviours, and the theoretical perspectives that underlie the approaches taken to learning and teaching. Chapters 5–9 explore educational behaviours from different perspectives, from the learner and from learning, from the teacher and from teaching, from the parent and guardian and from the home support, from the peer and from the online, and from the policymaker and guidance perspectives. Chapters 10 and 11 focus more on the implications of wider systemic behaviours that are emerging, and they consider how these behaviours can support individuals and what features are identified as crucial to accommodate what the future might hold.