The Domestication of Media Technology

Understanding social and cultural aspects of teachers’ digital competencies

“…The domestication perspective provides an analytical framework based on the complexity of everyday life and technology's role within rituals, routines and social structures (Berker & al., 2006;Selwyn, 2012). Etymologically speaking, 'domestication' refers to taming something that is wild and is related to how people adapt and translate technology and content to their homes.…”

“…One can therefore ask whether this framework is suitable for shedding light on and understanding the use of technology in other social contexts, such as schools, since it is analytically based on the clear distinction between the public and private sphere. However, if we analytically restrict the meaning of the term to 'tame', referring to the processes around adapting and redefining technologies to specific contexts and value orientations, we can open up an analytical understanding of how different media technologies are understood, implemented and translated into different contexts (Berker & al., 2006;Habib & Sønneland, 2010). In using 'domestication' as an analytical lens, we can have a framework for understanding the process of adapting, integrating and redefining technology within the context of schools.…”

“…Based on such a premise, we will be able to better understand how the interpretation, implementation and use of technology take place inside schools as well as how and why most teachers relate to using technology in the classroom. Such normative orientations related to the use of new kinds of technology are very common (Ward, 2006), and thus reveal that the use of technology also represents an expression as well as a value orientation. These kinds of moral orientations regarding the use of technology are, of course, part of people's private lives, but they can also be linked and understood in relation to professional ethics, such as the teaching profession.…”

“…In order to address these issues, I will explore the phenomenon of 'digitalisation' and its connection to schools, teaching and digital competence. To unpack the contextual conditions required for implementing technology in teaching practices and schools, I will draw on the theoretical concept from the constructivist understanding of technology, the 'domestication of technology' approach (Berker, Hartmann, Punie, & Ward, 2006;Silverstone & Hirsch, 1992). In the discourse surrounding digital competence and the use of technology in schools, which to a large extent have been focused on the potential technology has for enhance learning (Oliver, 2011;Selwyn, 2012), the domestication perspective represents an alternative conceptual framework for understanding the social and cultural aspects regarding the implementation and adaption of technology in schools.…”