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Through three levels of abstraction: Towards an ecological framework for making sense of new technologies in education

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Abstract

This position paper uses an ecological approach to examine how the interface between digital technology and education might be taken up as a complex system with interconnected facets that hold a range of implications. We understand the concept of ecology as the science of relations between living and non-living organisms and the environment, and we apply this model to identify the interactions between entities that exist in the hybrid space that intersects human social systems and technical systems. We use themes such as knowledge ecology and law of entropy to analyse how ecology is being discussed in extant literature and as a conceptual guide for thinking about how to develop an ecological framework for critical analysis of digital education. These two examples of are taken from conceptions of “complexity” and are key when illustrating contemporary developments in digital education. We propose ten categories derived from three groups of abstraction as a tool for research on educational, technical, and social impacts of 5G technology—or the relationship between 5G and education as a complex system.

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Notes

  1. Communication materiality is a structure that questions the conditions, places, support and modalities of sense production. The sense production suggests that the sense, significance and ideas of communication are what matters- therefore not the precise words written or spoken. Instead it is the interpretation of the written or spoken terms that are important.

  2. In this paper, when we discuss Ecology as a science or field to be studied, we use the first capitalized form. To discuss in a more general way, we use lower case first form. The same for Education, Complexity and Metaphors.

  3. The Platform is coordinated by one of the authors of this paper.

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Acknowledgments

Bonami and Nemorin would like to thank the Knowledge Lab at the Institute of Education at University College London for hosting the research. Bonami would, also, like to thank the University of São Paulo (USP - Brazil) and the Coordenação para Aperfeiçoamento da Pesquisa no Ensino Superior (CAPES - Brazil) for providing her full scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Beatrice Bonami

  2. University College London, London, UK

    Beatrice Bonami & Selena Nemorin

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  1. Beatrice Bonami
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  2. Selena Nemorin
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Both authors worked directly on the paper. Author Bonami conducted the research, analysis, wrote and revised the text. Author Nemorin conducted the theoretical research, wrote and revised the text. All authors had approved the final version.

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Correspondence to Beatrice Bonami.

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Bonami, B., Nemorin, S. Through three levels of abstraction: Towards an ecological framework for making sense of new technologies in education. Educ Inf Technol 26, 1183–1200 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10305-1

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