Mobile & Wired: Tweens In An Interactive Mobile World

This study has sought to deepen understandings of what is happening when pre-adolescent children aged 9-13 (tweens) use mobile technologies for intentional and/or unintentional learning as they participate in formal and informal activities in their everyday lives, exploring the skills and digital literacies that are cultivated during these interactions. The study also considered the interplay between these experiences and concepts and the impact this has on our understanding of the tweens’ perception and use of time, place, and space. The ‘inside and outside’ of tweens' use of mobile technologies has been examined, considering how pre-adolescents esoterically and inextricably engage with mobile devices across a range of activities, formal and informal, structured, and unstructured. The ways in which tweens view their digital lives and how they adapt to the changes that mobile technologies afford has been investigated, in addition to exploring the impact on learning across a range of physical and virtual spaces. This study has encompassed the range of everyday mobile technology experiences of the tween from a person-first perspective considering the interplay between their different uses of mobile technologies as they navigate their digital lives. Alternative methods for the collection of authentic data have been adopted, reflecting the changing nature of the research landscape in contemporary times. This study has implemented novel approaches to researching the mobile experiences of tweens, leveraging the technologies available to implement innovative strategies to enhance data collection instruments for interviewing, and investigating authentic practices of pre-teenage children.

Author dc:creator

• Agnew, Anne-Louise

Statement dc:rights

• The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
• au.edu.uts.lib/ppc
• info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/150212

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.lib.uts.edu.au:10453/150212