Power Users and patchworking – An analytical approach to critical studies of young people’s learning with digital media

Abstract

This paper sets out to problematize generational categories such as 'Power Users' or 'New Millennium Learners' by discussing these in the light of recent research on youth and ICT. We then suggest analytic and conceptual pathways to engage in more critical and empirically founded studies of young people's learning in technology and media-rich settings. Based on a study of a group of young 'Power Users' it is argued, that conceptualising and analysing learning as a process of patchworking can enhance our knowledge of young people's learning in such settings. We argue that the analytical approach gives us ways of critically investigating young people's learning in technology and media-rich settings, and study if these are processes of critical, reflexive enquiry where resources are creatively re-appropriated. With departure in an analytical example the paper presents the proposed metaphor of understanding learning as a process of patchworking and discusses how we might use this to understand young people's learning with digital media.

Digital competence – an emergent boundary concept for policy and educational research

“…Studies with a media background have some specific interests, like visual literacy as one form of new content, but it was connected to traditional media education (Lin and Polaniecki 2008). Ryberg and Dirckinck-Holmfeld (2008) focused on conceptualising and analysing learning as a process of patchworking and they investigated the ways in which "Power Users" use digital media. Researchers concluded that the skills of highly ICT-literate young people in a learning context was not restricted only to media literacies but they also exhibited reflective and critical abilities, and they had complex competences in terms of work processes integrating the "form" to the "content or substance".…”

Patterns of interactive media use among contemporary youth

“…Subsequently, we labelled the user clusters according to the main activity group in each cluster: Traditionalists are mainly engaged in the traditional interactive media activities grouped under ‘interacting’; Gamers engage in performing; Networkers in social software grouped under ‘interchanging’; and finally, Producers create content, in a ‘patchworking’ manner (cf. Ryberg & Dirckinck‐Holmfeld 2008), by means of for instance weblog‐templates or pre‐defined photo albums. These often standardized objects enable activities grouped under ‘authoring’.…”

“…Eynon 2010). A number of surveys among university students with a focus on ICT skills in relation to learning (Cameron 2005; Margaryan & Littlejohn 2008; Ryberg & Dirckinck‐Holmfeld 2008; Jones et al . 2009; Kerawalla et al .…”

“…Young people's engagement in specific interactive media activities allow for the development of expertise, ‘while simultaneously supporting aspects of identity development such as a sense of belonging in a community, feelings of competence, and interest development’ (Barron 2006, p. 194). However, educators should be careful in assuming that students will automatically develop critical, reflexive skills or literacies through informal or intensive use of technology (Ryberg & Dirckinck‐Holmfeld 2008). By considering the aforementioned classes, diversity in use and users will appear, leading to first insights into the social and cultural functions of interactive media.…”

Littératies et créacollage numérique

“…Le remix ressemble à ce que (Ryberg et Dirckinck-Holmfeld, 2008) nomment « patchworking » ou l'approche de courtepointe, qui est une utilisation de divers bouts de textes pour une nouvelle création. C'est beaucoup plus qu'un copier-coller, car il s'agit de l'agencement d'informations afin de créer une vision originale, une argumentation inédite qui ainsi nécessite, d'après Ryberg (2008), une réflexion critique.…”