Interactive Media Practices of Young People

Transcription

Interactive Media Practices of Young People:
Origins, Backgrounds, Motives and Patterns
!
Antoine van den Beemt
IVLOS Series
The IVLOS-series is published by IVLOS Institute of Education of Utrecht University
(Instituut voor Lerarenopleiding, Onderwijsontwikkeling en Studievaardigheden). The
purpose of this series is the dissemination of results of research to enhance the quality of
education.
The members of the editorial board are:
Prof. dr. A. Pilot
Prof. dr. P. R. J. Simons
Prof. dr. J. D. H. M. Vermunt
Recent publications in this serie are:
M. D. Endedijk. Student teachers’ self-regulated learning.
I. Zitter. Designing for learning. Studying learning environments in higher professional
education from a design perspective.
M. N. Rosenfeld. Developing teacher sensitivity to individual learning differences. Studies
on increasing teacher effectiveness.
M. J. J. Coenders. Leerarchitectuur.Een exploratief onderzoek naar de relatie tussen ruimte
en leren in werksituaties en het ontwerpen voor leren dichtbij de praktijk
M. Moonen. Testing the multi-feature hypothesis. Tasks, mental actions and second
language acquisition.
Ä. Leijen. The reflective dancer. ICT support for practical training.
M. P. Nguyen. Culture and cooperation: Cooperative learning in Asian Confucian heritage
cultures – The case of Viet Nam.
A. Hoekstra. Experienced teachers’ informal learning in the workplace.
J. van der Pol. Facilitating online learning conversations: Exploring tool affordances in
higher education.
S. F. Akkerman. Strangers in dialogue: Academic collaboration across organizational
boundaries.
Van den Beemt, A. A. J.
Interactive Media Practices of Young People: Origins, Backgrounds, Motives and
Patterns
Het gebruik van interactieve media door jongeren:
bronnen, achtergronden, motieven en patronen)
Proefschrift Universiteit Utrecht – Met literatuuropgave – Met samenvatting in het
Nederlands
ISBN 9789088912122
Keywords: education, interactive media, learning, net generation, participation,
patterns
Trefwoorden: onderwijs, interactieve media, leren, netgeneratie, participatie,
patronen
Cover Design: Gé Helsen.
Cover Photo: Lex van Lith, 2001, Zonder titel (OL80800101), 80x80 cm, oil on canvas.
Printed by: Proefschriftmaken.nl || Printyourthesis.com
Published by: Uitgeverij BOXPress, Oisterwijk
© 2010, Antoine van den Beemt
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced, stored in databases or
retrieval systems, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronical, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
Interactive Media Practices of Young People:
Origins, Backgrounds, Motives and Patterns
Het gebruik van interactieve media door jongeren:
bronnen, achtergronden, motieven en patronen
(met een samenvatting in het Nederlands)
Proefschrift
ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht op gezag van de
rector magnificus, prof.dr. J.C. Stoof, ingevolge het besluit van het college voor
promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op
vrijdag 17 december 2010 des middags te 12.45 uur
door
Antonius Arnoldus Jacobus van den Beemt
geboren op 24 december 1967, te Breda
Promotor:
Prof.dr. P.R.J. Simons
Co-promotor:
Dr. S.F. Akkerman
Dit proefschrift werd mede mogelijk gemaakt met financiële steun van
Fontys Hogescholen.
Manuscript commissie:
Prof.dr. M. De Haan, Universiteit Utrecht
Prof.dr. J. Jansz, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
Prof dr. D.W. Shaffer, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Prof.dr. W. Veen, Technische Universiteit Delft
Acknowledgements
It was long ago, in a time when the world was considered flat again, and all young
people were thought to be using interactive media as one homogeneous group. It
was in those days that Ton Bruining revived my long lost dream to leave behind the
'not yet'-stage and become a Doctor of Philosophy. We talked about education,
learning and the possible use of internet and games as learning tools. Ton
introduced me to Robert-Jan Simons, for which I am greatly indebted to him.
During our first meeting, Robert-Jan listened to my ideas and nodded. Then
he asked me if I really wanted to pursue the enterprise of a PhD project. He would
ask me that, time and again for the following eight months. The first time, I
answered, “yes, I really want to, but let me think about it”. And Robert-Jan nodded.
So I went to France, and thought about it. And one evening, in restaurant ‘Le Coq
d'Or’ in Cognac, I decided “yes I will do it!”. I called the garçon and ordered an XO.
He returned, uncorked a bottle with a handwritten label on it, and filled my glass
generously. Drinking the XO was a moment of magic. A myriad of flavours filled my
mouth and nostrils. I would like to think that at this moment the spirit of thesis was
blown into my nose. I went home, told Robert-Jan about my decision, and he
nodded. That's how it started. This thesis is the final result.
Between the summer of 2006 and the summer of 2010, I wrote this thesis,
rebuilt my house twice, became a father twice, saw hospitals on the inside, more
than twice, and I developed a game-design curriculum at Fontys University of
Applied Sciences. Completing all of this was only possible thanks to a number of
people:
First of all, Robert-Jan, a master in accepting multiple truths. Thank you for
your open minded attitude, the discussions and the consistent search for positive
formulations in my texts.
Sanne, thank you for your persistent constructiveness in both attitude and
feedback. With your simultaneous attention to both detail and the larger picture you
showed great editorial skills. Scientific writing is a vocation. Your way of
supervising inspired me to re-examine my own role as a teacher and supervisor.
Together, Sanne and Robert-Jan formed the best team of supervisors I could think of.
You made this a great experience!
Thank you:
Ton Bruining, for reviving the dream and introducing me to your network.
My former colleagues at CMD-Breda, for your advice and comments at the start of
the project. Joke Jansen, for believing in this project and for giving me the chance to
complete this thesis in times of turmoil. My colleagues at the GD&T team, especially
Gabri Heinrichs, for covering for me in the last few years, for inventing labels for my
research results. Menno Deen and Gabri, for proof-reading, even when deadlines
where looming. Bob Wilkinson, for language corrections. David Shaffer, for
convincing me to publish the preliminary study, chapter 3 in this thesis. Laurence
Frank and Perry den Brok, for methodological support. Chris Jones, for inviting me
to your network of researchers on interactive media and students. A special thank
you to my online PLN: many of you I have never met in person, but in a perpetuous
stream of subject related tweets you are a source of inspiration.
The research described in this thesis could not have been completed without
the help of Jan Beijers, Arnoud van Leuven, Etienne Houben and many teachers and
school principals, together with 178 + 2138 + 11 students.
For Luc and Isabelle, my writing this thesis meant ‘daddy working upstairs’. I
am glad they never cease(d) to show me that there is a life beside the thesis. You are
right guys, building MegaBlocks towers is indeed the most important skill in this
world. My friends, especially Esther and Piet-Hein, Sim and Ingeborg, thank you for
your support. Sim and Piet-Hein, I am happy that you both agreed to stand by my
side today.
Elly, thank you.... for being there, for not reading my manuscripts, for still
trying to follow lines of reasoning, for commenting on attitude and aberrations of
my mind, for posing 'what if...'-questions, for two lovely headstrong children, for
sharing night-shifts when stress levels raised to the max, for commenting on
grumpyness and susceptibility, for living without daily fresh word-jokes for almost
four years.
Thanks everyone!
It was hard work, it was fun and I enjoyed the ride. And it was a ride.
Antoine van den Beemt
Tilburg, december 2010
Contents
Chapter 1
Introduction
11
Chapter 2
Considering young people's motives for interactive media use
23
Chapter 3
The use of interactive media among today's youth:
Results of a survey
53
Chapter 4
Patterns of interactive media use among contemporary youth
75
Chapter 5
Student characteristics contributing to interactive media use
103
Chapter 6
Pathways in interactive media practices among youths
135
Chapter 7
Discussion and reflection
155
Samenvatting in het Nederlands
181
Curriculum Vitae
191
Publications
193
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
!
12 ! Chapter 1
1. Scientific and social context of this study
At the beginning of the 21st century, educators, journalists and researchers showed a
large interest in young people's1 use of Internet applications and videogames. Many
publications discussed possible implications of this use, often in relation to the
future of learning and education (cf. Boschma & Groen, 2006; Oblinger & Oblinger,
2005; Prenksy, 2006; Veen & Jacobs, 2005). These publications contributed to a peak
in what came to be known as the net generation debate, which started when
Tapscott (1998) coined the term 'Net generation'. In its best form, the debate evoked
educators to think about the implementation as learning tools of Internet
applications and videogames, which we define as interactive media. However, often
the net generation debate was interpreted as a call for radical education renewal
(Bullen, 2008). This call was based on the assumption that young people's intensive
use of interactive media in and out of school would make them think and learn in a
different manner compared to earlier generations. Some participants in the debate
even claimed that because of this intensive media use, young people's brains would
be different from those of older people (Prensky, 2006).
The publications contributing to the net generation debate hardly included
any large-scale empirical studies examining the actual use of interactive media, user
backgrounds or consequences of interactive media use. Most available studies were
influenced by presumptions, claims and emotions, rather than based on theorydriven empirical evidence (see also Hargittai, 2010; Jones, Ramanau, Cross, &
Healing, 2009; Selwyn, 2010a). Nonetheless, researchers, journalists and educators
broadly absorbed conclusions drawn from these studies (Bisschop-Boele, 2005;
Bennet, Maton, & Kervin, 2008). These conclusions caused educators to foresee
problems in addressing and challenging future students in school. For instance,
policy documents of several Dutch institutions for higher education maintained that
the cohorts entering schools from 2010 onward would ask for a different approach
because of their skilful and experienced interactive media use (cf. Avans
Hogeschool, 2006; Stichting Brabantse Hogescholen, 2003).
1
'Young people' and 'youths' in this text both refer to a cohort of young people, especially
those aged 10 to 25. We distinghuish our references to young people, including 'youth', from
the social construct of youthfulness. See also Buckingham (2008) for a discussion of 'youth'
as a social construct.
Introduction ! 13
2. Aims and research questions
The lack of empirical data combined with the broad interest among educators made
it timely and significant to focus attention on the phenomenon of young people's
interactive media practices. Accordingly, the aim of this PhD study is to produce an
academic account of students' relations to interactive media in view of possible
consequences for education. This account should describe the present use of
interactive media and its consequences, rather than a speculative forecast of the
future of education. Therefore, the emphasis in this study is on 'here and now'
realities (Selwyn, 2010a) of the 'mundane' (Buckingham, 2008) forms of interactive
media use found among students. This emphasis goes together with a critical
attitude towards the employment of interactive media as learning tools in education.
The question central to this PhD thesis can be formulated as: What interactive
media practices do young people in contemporary Western society engage in? We expect to
find diversity among youths regarding the use of interactive media in relation to the
repertoire of experiences, stories, tools, and ways of addressing recurring problems,
also known as practice (Wenger 1998). Accordingly, the hypothesis for this thesis is:
a diversity in interactive media practices can be found among young people in terms
of origins, backgrounds, motives, and patterns. This hypothesis is grounded in the
idea that human behaviour is formed in a dynamic exchange with other people and
objects, as discussed in the works of Thomas (1928), Schütz (1964, 1967) and Berger
& Luckmann (1966). This dynamic exchange relates to ways in which people
naturally organise themselves in networks of likeminded others, within which they
learn through processes of participation. Contemporary examples of this approach
are the concepts peripheral participation and practices (Lavé & Wenger, 1991; Wenger,
1998), theoretical approaches to modernity (Giddens, 1993; Van den Brink, 2007),
ethnographic accounts of technology use (Latour & Woolgar, 1979; Suchman, 1993;
Traweek, 1992; Turkle, 1995) and youth culture research (Brake, 1985; Buckingham,
2008).
A thorough investigation of a possible diversity in interactive media use
includes examining motives, patterns, backgrounds and origins of interactive media
use among youths. Examining exactly these aspects follows from the idea of a
natural development of practices, which we expect to lead to a grouping of a)
interactive media and b) opinions and preferences related to these media.
Subsequently, we expect this grouping to be influenced by peers and by background
14 ! Chapter 1
characteristics, such as educational level and gender. Hence, we formulated the
following sub-questions, each of them forming the basis for a study within this
thesis. First, we wanted to know what brings youths to use interactive media, given
the current state of affairs in society: What motivates contemporary youth in Western
societies to use interactive media? Second, with the motives as perspective, we
examined the actual use of interactive media, including a possible diversity
represented in patterns of behaviour: Can patterns be found in the interactive media
activities and opinions of young people? Third, with these patterns surveyed, we
investigated contributing user backgrounds: How do background factors and opinions
contribute to intensity in interactive media use? Finally, we used the image of motives,
patterns and backgrounds to investigate the emergence of interactive media use
among youths: What are the origins of diversity in interactive media patterns?
3. Scientific and practical relevance
The scientific relevance of empirically investigating origins, backgrounds, motives
and patterns of interactive media use, is the resulting comprehensive image of
young people's interactive media practices. This thesis fits in a growing stream of
empirical studies about young people's interactive media use. However, our studies
have additional value because of the large data sample consisting of reports by
students from a broad range of ages and educational levels, on which we employ
multiple methods of analysis.
We conduct our studies on the boundaries of three fields of research:
sociology, (interactive) media studies and educational science. Crossing the
boundaries of these fields provides added value because it allows us to examine our
main question in relation to young people's actual use of interactive media, their
corresponding opinions and preferences and the possible consequences for
education. All three fields of research emphasize that human behaviour, including
learning, is socially organized in the form of diversity in practices.
Practical relevance of this study is provided by the analysis of possible
consequences for education in view of each sub-question. Contemporary students
bring their interactive media knowledge, experience and subsequent networks to
school. Suitable education requires knowledge of the everyday lives of students as
socially formed and mediated by interactive media in diverse ways.
Introduction ! 15
4. Structure of studies
The chapters in this thesis follow the order of the sub-questions as discussed above,
which is similar to the sequence in which the separate studies were conducted2 (see
Figure 1). The problem of this thesis is addressed by going along the path of
developing a perspective, collecting and analysing empirical data and deducting
implications for education. Accordingly, this thesis starts with a literature study that
results in a framework for the subsequent questions. This framework maintains that
Motives for interactive media use
Patterns of
interactive media use
Patterns of interactive media use
Backgrounds of
Origins of
Reflection on implications
Literature review
Preliminary survey - Cluster analysis
Large-scale survey - Confirmatory
Factor analysis, Exploratory factor analysis
Multi level analysis on survey data
Qualitative study - Semi-structured interviewing,
Autodriving visual elicitation, Photo elicitation
Discussion
Figure 1: Structure of Studies
2
As a consequence of journal policy, the language in this thesis alternates between UK
English and US English. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 were written in US English, all other
chapters in UK English.
16 ! Chapter 1
technology is a socially constructed phenomenon and that interactive media have a
function in people's day-to-day activities and corresponding reflections. The
literature study is followed by a preliminary empirical survey, which explores the
diversity in interactive media use among students. We replicated this study with a
larger sample and more profound analyses. This large-scale survey study is followed
by a multilevel analysis of background factors contributing to interactive media use.
Next, we examine origins of interactive media use by means of a qualitative
study. In the final chapter we reflect on theory, methodology, empirical results and
implications for both research and education. In what follows we introduce the
different studies and their relation to the main question.
4.1 Overview of motives for young people's interactive media use (Chapter 2)
Before starting our empirical investigation of interactive media practices among
contemporary youths, we searched for a perspective to frame our research questions.
First we looked at the assertions and central question of the net generation debate by
discussing studies in this context published between 1998 and 2009.
The main assumption of the debate is the existence of a new generation of
students that is different from earlier generations with regard to interactive media
use. Because publications about young people's interactive media use describe
contemporary youth as different from earlier generations, we applied late modernity
as a concept to describe the current state of affairs in society. With this concept as
jumping-off point, we formulated our research question about the role of interactive
media in the dynamic of renewal and tradition for young people: What motivates
contemporary youth in Western societies to use interactive media?
Because we argue for theory-driven empirical research rather than assertions
as a basis for education development, we discussed sensitizing concepts as a
perspective for research on the relation between interactive media and youth
culture. The sensitizing concepts contributed to an understanding of how in
contemporary society human behaviour is influenced by forces of renewal and
tradition. This examination led to questions for education and a subsequent plan for
future research, which should focus on diversity among students. This plan entailed
studying both the preferences and the actual use of interactive media, which should
be a concern of educational practices.
Introduction ! 17
4.2 Diversity in young people's interactive media use (Chapter 3)
The empirical examination of young people's interactive media practices started
with a quantitative study conducted in view of the motives for interactive media
use, which we discussed in the first chapter. These motives and the forces of
tradition and renewal in society make it reasonable to find diversity in interactive
media use among youths. The aim of our investigation was to scrutinize the net
generation debate's assumption of homogeneity, which we questioned from a
sociological perspective. We expected that human behaviour, including interactive
media use, could be described in patterns. Therefore the research question for this
chapter: Can patterns be found in the use of interactive media among youth? We answered
this question by a survey among 178 Dutch students aged 10 to 23. In order to add
value to other studies, we intended our respondents to come from several
educational levels and a broad age range. We explored diversity in interactive media
use among our respondents by employing cluster analysis. By including all
interactive media applications used at the time of inquiry in the analysis, without a
priori categories, we were able to create a bottom-up image of the interactive media
use among youth. This bottom-up approach allowed us to analyse relations between
individual activities. The results provided a contextualized understanding of the
position of interactive media in the lives of contemporary youth, and a nuanced
conceptualization of the ‘net generation’. At the same time, these results called for a
follow-up study, with a larger sample and more profound analyses.
4.3 Patterns in young people's interactive media use (Chapter 4)
The preliminary survey was replicated with a larger and geographically more
dispersed sample of 2138 Dutch students aged 9 to 23 in education levels ranging
from primary education to higher professional education. The results of the
preliminary study called for a better understanding of the categories of interactive
media and the characteristics of users. Therefore we extended the research question
to: Can patterns be found in the interactive media activities and opinions of young people?
To answer this question, we employed confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory
factor analysis and cluster analysis on the dataset. The results show educators what
differences in interactive media use among youths exist. These differences are of
importance for applying these media as learning tools or for addressing the
18 ! Chapter 1
expertise, preferences and identities that students develop by using interactive
media.
4.4 Backgrounds of interactive media use (Chapter 5)
The results of the survey study gave rise to further examine the contribution of
student, class and school characteristics to the intensity of interactive media use. We
expected that several factors - including gender, educational level, peers in class and
preferences for specific media - would contribute to the intensity of interactive
media activities. To examine this expectated result, we formulated the following
research question: How do background factors and opinions contribute to intensity in
interactive media use? We answered this question by means of multilevel analysis. The
categories of interactive media activities found in the survey served as a starting
point for this analysis. We took into account the hierarchical structure of the data by
analysing factors on school, class and student level. These results specify the
pointers for educators to think through possible consequences of young people's
interactive media use.
4.5 The nature of students’ diversity in interactive media use (Chapter 6)
The categories of users found in our quantitative analyses served as a jumping off
point for a qualitative study. This study examined how eleven Dutch middle school
students developed interest in specific types of interactive media practices and how
they perceived these practices in relation to others. With this focus we aimed to
understand the nature of the diversity in interactive media practices that was found
in earlier studies. The main question for this study was formulated as follows: What
are the origins of diversity in interactive media patterns? We answered this question by
focusing on 1) the causes to become interested in specific interactive media practices,
and 2) the students' perception of their own interactive media practices in relation to
others. The methods included semi-structured interviewing, autodriving visual
elicitation and photo elicitation using 'moodboards'. Together with the other four
studies, this qualitative analysis provides a contextualised understanding of both the
emergence of interactive media practices and possible implications for education.
Introduction ! 19
4.6 Discussion and reflection (Chapter 7)
The final chapter aimed to reflect on the theories, methods and results discussed in
the preceding chapters. The benefits and limitations of the applied theoretical and
methodological approaches are discussed by exemplifying their essential aspects.
This led to recommendations for future research alongside implications for research
and education. These implications are elaborated on with a focus on digital games
and are presented as an overview of lenses to critically examine the application of
digital games in educational contexts.
5. Published chapters
The following chapters of this PhD thesis have been published by peer-reviewed
international journals:
•
Chapter 2 has been published as:
o Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (2010). Considering
young people's motives for interactive media use. Educational Research
Review, DOI: 10.1016/j.edurev.2010.06.002
•
o Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (2010). The use of
interactive media among today's youth: results of a survey. Computers
in Human Behavior, Vol. 26, 1158-1165. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.022
•
o Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (2010). Patterns of
interactive media use among contemporary youth. Journal of Computer
Assisted Learning, DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2010.00384.x
•
Chapter 6 has been accepted as:
o Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (2010). Pathways in
interactive media practices among young people. Learning, Media and
Technology
20 ! Chapter 1
The following chapter of this PhD thesis has been submitted to a peer-reviewed
international journal:
•
Chapter 5 has been submitted as:
o Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., Den Brok, P., & Simons, P.R.J.
(under review). Student characteristics contributing to interactive
media use.
Introduction ! 21
References
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Hogeschool 2007-2010 [Investing reciprocically, policy plan of Avans Hogeschool
2007-2010].
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review of the evidence, British Journal of Educational Technology,
doi:10.1111/j.14678535.2007.00793.x
Berger, J., & Luckmann, G. (1966). The social construction of reality. Middlesex:
Penguin.
Bisschop Boele, E. (2005). Leren van jongeren: Een kritische blik. [Learning from young
people: A critical view]. Retrieved November 11, 2007 from
http://www.scienceguide.nl/article.asp?articleid=100449.
Boschma, J., & Groen, I. (2006). De Einstein Generatie. [Generation Einstein].
Amsterdam: Prentice Hall.
Brake, M. (1985). Comparative youth culture. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Buckingham, D. (Ed.) (2008). Youth, Identity, and Digital Media. Cambridge: MIT
Press.
Bullen, M. (2008). Contradictions in Oblinger & Oblinger. Retrieved April 3, 2009 from
http://netgennonsense.blogspot.com/2008/04/contradictions-in-oblingeroblinger.html
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Hargittai, E. (2010). Digital Na(t)ives? Variation in Internet Skills and Uses among
Members of the ‘‘Net Generation’. Sociological Inquiry, Vol. 80, No. 1, 92–113
Jones, C., Ramanau, R., Cross, S., & Healing, G. (2009). Net generation or Digital
Natives: Is there a distinct new generation entering university? Computers &
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Prensky, M. (2006). Don’t Bother Me Mum, I’m Learning. St. Paul: Paragon House.
22 ! Chapter 1
Schütz, A. (1964). Collected Papers, vol 2. Den Haag: Nijhoff.
Schütz, A. (1967). Collected Papers, vol 1. Den Haag: Nijhoff.
Selwyn, N. (2010a) Looking beyond learning: notes towards the critical study of
educational technology, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26, 65–73.
Selwyn, N. (2010b). The educational significance of social media: a critical perspective.
Keynote presented at the AACE Ed-Media Conference 2010, Toronto, Canada.
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2003-2006].
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CHAPTER TWO
Considering young people's motives for
interactive media use1
!
Abstract
Young people's increasing use of interactive media has led to assertions about possible
consequences for education. Rather than following assertions, we argue for theory-driven
empirical research as a basis for education renewal. First, we review the existing empirical
research, concluding that there is almost no theory-driven research available. Subsequently
we discuss sensitizing concepts as a perspective for research on the relation between
interactive media and youth culture. These concepts, derived from the literature, include
insecurity, reflexivity, affinity spaces and shape-shifting portfolio people. With this
perspective we examine social and cultural functions of interactive media within
contemporary Western youth culture. This examination leads to questions for education and
a subsequent plan for future research, with a focus on diversity among students and the
development of local cultures. This entails studying both the motives as well as the actual use
of interactive media, which should be the concern of educational practices.
1
This chapter has been published as:
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (2010). Considering young people's
motives for interactive media use. Educational Research Review, DOI:
10.1016/j.edurev.2010.06.002
24 ! Chapter 2
1. Introduction
Western countries and large parts of Asia are witnessing a generation of young
people who have spent their entire lives surrounded by Internet, games and mobile
phones (Ito et al., 2008). During the last decade, interactive media, consisting of
games and Internet applications, have become tools for information and
communication that are used daily by the so-called ‘Netgeneration’ (Tapscott, 1998).
This development has led to many assertions about the enormous effect of
interactive media on youth (cf. Prensky, 2006; Veen & Jacobs, 2005). For instance, it is
believed that the members of the net generation are fast and impatient, live at
‘twitchspeed’ (Prensky, 1998), get bored easily, and have a short attention span.
Social interaction for them means being always online and connected; networking is
their lifestyle. When it comes to learning they do not want to read books, they want
to learn by doing, in a similar way as in videogames. They only want to work
towards clear goals, preferably while multi-tasking. They do their homework, while
at the same time chatting with friends, watching television and surfing the net
(Prensky, 2006). Several authors have argued that consequently, children will
develop a different attitude towards communication patterns (Veen & Jacobs, 2005)
and as a result will use information in a different manner or even will learn in a
different way.
However, this characterization of the net generation is for the larger part the
result of generalizations based on professional opinions and literature studies rather
than being a differentiated description founded on empirical evidence (Bennett,
Maton, & Kervin, 2008; Schulmeister, 2008). The arrival of a new generation, as
suggested in the terms ‘Netgeneration’ (Tapscott, 1998), ‘Generation Einstein’
(Boschma & Groen, 2006), ‘Millennials’ (Howe & Strauss, 2000), ‘Webgeneration’
(Hartmann, 2003) or ‘Digital natives’ (Prensky, 2001), has inspired participants in the
net generation debate to connect interactive media use directly to consequences for
education. Along with the generalized characterization of youth, strong statements
are made which call for a radical departure in education from the old and an
embracing of the new (Bisschop Boele, 2005; cf. Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005).
The net generation debate has two limitations. First, the debate presumes
homogeneity among all contemporary youth, as is implied by the 'generation'
terminology. Second, the debate typifies youth on the basis of interactive media use,
rather than on the motives for this use. This approach bears the risk of considering
Considering young people's motives ! 25
interactive media as a goal in itself, instead of seeing its contribution to the ways
people relate to each other and to sources of information and communication.
In order to add value to the net generation debate, it is important to study the
ways interactive media function in young people's activities from the perspective of
a changing society. This perspective allows describing possible consequences of
societal tendencies for young people's everyday life; it allows describing interactive
media as part of young people's behavior and systems of values and beliefs. The
functions of interactive media in everyday life are considered here as the motives for
types of interactive media use among youth. Studying these motives asks for a
sociological understanding of culture, specifically contemporary youth culture.
Youth culture can be defined as the particular way of life of young people in which
they express certain meanings and values (Brake, 1985; Frith, 1984). Understanding
this particular way of life in relation to interactive media leads to a contextualization
of the intensive use of interactive media among youth.
The central question to this article is: what motivates contemporary youth in
Western societies to use interactive media? In response to the central question, this study
first presents a review of available empirical research on the relation between
contemporary youth culture, interactive media and learning. The results of this
review lead to a framework starting from the sociological notion of late modernity.
This notion helps to understand both youth culture and interactive media as part of
contemporary everyday life. We describe late modernity in relation to contemporary
youth by means of four concepts: insecurity, reflexivity, affinity spaces and shapeshifting portfolio people. These concepts are derived from literature on modernity
and game-based learning and will be described below. On the basis of these
descriptions of youth culture, we are able to formulate more specific questions that
are relevant for educational practice. These questions raise an awareness of
differences in culture between groups of people, and as such allow a differentiated
description of contemporary youth, rather than an assertion of homogeneity.
Moreover, these questions are concerned, not with the use of interactive media as
such, but their function in the daily life of youth. It is this latter insight that should
become the basis for educational practice to think about ways of adjusting to
contemporary youth.
The outcome of this article is a set of questions for further research on youth
culture, interactive media use and possible consequences for education. Informed by
26 ! Chapter 2
these research questions, we are currently pursuing an empirical investigation
including both large-scale quantitative (Van den Beemt, Akkerman, & Simons, 2009,
2010) and in-depth qualitative research of media use and meaning.
2. Review of research on interactive media use
2.1 Interactive media and the net generation
Following the intense use of interactive media by today's youth, a growing amount
of research explores the application of games and social software in education as a
means of triggering young people to learn (cf. De Bakker, Sloep & Jochems, 2007; cf.
Kafai, 2006; Margaryan & Littlejohn, 2008; cf. Sandford, Ulicsak, Faser & Rudd,
2006). But this push of interactive media towards education and the strong
statements about youth do not rely on a thorough understanding of current youth
culture.
At the same time we see a growing body of literature on the use of ICT. The
first landmark in this respect is a collection of studies on the net generation and
learning presented by Oblinger and Oblinger (2005). Their book provides a
framework to pose questions about learning and the use of ICT. However, one could
wonder whether the fundamental idea behind the book, namely the undisputed
existence of the net generation, is correct. The notion that this generation has
"unprecedented levels of skills with information technology" and "that they take
technology for granted, that they want more of it in their classes, that postsecondary
institutions aren't responding fast enough to meet their needs" (Oblinger & Oblinger
2005, p. 7.5) appears to contradict findings from a large-scale US-survey discussed
elsewhere in the book (Bullen, 2008). One of the survey's findings states that
students have basic text editing skills and can use email and surf the Internet with
ease but "moving beyond basic activities is problematic. It appears they do not
recognize the enhanced functionality of the applications they own and use."
(Oblinger & Oblinger 2005, p. 7.7).
2.2 Method of inquiry
In order to discuss existing empirical data on the use of interactive media and their
meaning in young people's lives, we applied searches on the ERIC, Education
Abstracts and Web of Science databases. We stopped the search on 16 March 2009,
and any study published after this date was not included in the review. The
following keywords were used for a Boolean search: "youth culture", "net
generation" or "netgeneration" or "millennials" or "digital natives", "video games" or
"videogames" or "games" or "interactive media" and "learning" or "education". Peer
reviewed journal articles and book chapters were included. This search resulted in
twelve articles. After reading the articles, five of them were left out of the analysis
because they did not discuss the net generation nor the consequences of interactive
media use for education. Applying the so-called snowball method of checking
references in the remaining seven articles did not result in any extra references
relevant to our aim. Four documents, published as a book or on the Internet, were
included as well. In total eleven texts were included in the review (Table 1).
2.3 Use and non-use of interactive media
The large-scale surveys on youth and ICT give a good overview of use and skills of
interactive media (Duimel & De Haan, 2007; Kutteroff & Behrens, 2008). However,
the meaning of these media in the user's lives remains unclear. Noteworthy is that
some of these studies are only meant to describe large trends in social actions rather
than to investigate the motives behind them. In addition to the use of interactive
media, Duimel and De Haan (2007) and Kutteroff and Behrens (2008) both provide
insight into the non-use of these media as well. In the Netherlands 7% of 13-18-year
olds do not search websites for information, and 12% do not use MSN
(http://www.msn.com) for contacting friends (Duimel & De Haan, 2007). E-mail is
being used less than once a week by 18% of youth in the Netherlands, while other
Internet activities show a higher percentage of non-use (Duimel & De Haan, 2007).
Kutteroff and Behrens (2008), after presenting similar results for German youth
between thirteen and nineteen, draw the conclusion that young people see radio or
television as a more trustworthy news source than the internet. The results of these
studies incline towards a differentiation of contemporary youth in groups based on
interactive media use, rather than assuming a generation with uniform user
characteristics.
2.4 Interactive media skills
Two surveys among university students with a focus on ICT-skills in relation to
learning (Cameron, 2005; Margaryan & Littlejohn, 2008) support the inclination of a
differentiation based on user patterns. They suggest that students use a limited
28 ! Chapter 2
range of technologies for both learning and socialization. Students make limited,
recreational use of social technologies such as networking sites. Furthermore, the
results point to a "low level of use of and familiarity with collaborative knowledge
creation tools, virtual worlds, personal web publishing, and other emergent social
technologies" (Margaryan & Littlejohn, 2008, p. 1). Neither study found evidence to
support the claims regarding students adopting radically different patterns of
knowledge creation and sharing, as suggested by some previous studies. Similar
results can be found in Ito et al. (2008), a collection of US-based studies on the
development of popular culture in exchange with interactive media, which
concludes that there is no homogeneous group, but rather a differentiation in
subcultures based on interactive media.
2.5 Meaning and identity
The available qualitative studies often take the characterization of the net generation
(such as described in the introduction) as starting point rather than discussing it. At
the same time these studies testify to the intricate relationship between identity
development and interactive media (Kelly, Pomerantz & Currie, 2006). This indicates
that these media are meaningful tools in organizing and directing youth's cognitive,
social and emotional life, rather than being ends in themselves (Baki, Leng, Ali,
Mahmud & Gani, 2008). It appears that more studies are needed in order to theorize
how interactive media are meaningful to young people’s lives.
2.6 Today's youth and interactive media
From this review of empirical studies, we can conclude that contemporary youth in
the studied (mainly Western) countries makes intensive use of interactive media,
although young people appear to have intermediate media skills. The available
results show a description of young people as differentiated in groups regarding
interactive media use and skills, rather than as one homogeneous generation.
Our database search shows that only a small number of empirical studies on
interactive media use by young people are available. As Table 1 shows, half of the
studies applied large-scale quantitative surveys, with a focus on interactive media
use and skills, while in three studies a qualitative investigation was conducted. Of
these studies, only one made a connection with the meaning of interactive media for
Table 1: Summary of 11 studies
Main research
approach
Data collection
Cameron
(2005)
Quantitative
Survey (N=210)
So-called 'digital natives': have mainly
basic ICT-skills, prefer real life contact in
learning situations, are not really multitasking, prefer scanning information above
deep-reading, see technology not as a
negative force in society.
Kelly et al.
(2006)
Qualitative
Focus group
interview (N=16)
Study on how girls use online tools for
developing their feminine identity
Sefton-Green
(2006)
Qualitative
Literature study
Description of current youth culture theory.
Mention of the necessity of empirical data.
Analysis of debate on media based learning
versus traditional schooling
Skiba et al.
(2006)
Qualitative
Literature study
Present possible consequences for
education based on the characteristics of the
net generation as described by Tapscott,
Prensky and Oblinger and Oblinger
Duimel et al.
(2007)
Quantitative
Survey (N=1561)
Present overview of actual use, skills and
posession of ICT by teenagers and how this
use is perceived by parents.
Annetta
(2008)
Qualitative
Case study
Discussion of games in educational context.
Starting point is net generation and 21st
century skills
Baki et al.
(2008)
Qualitative
Focus group
interview (N=6)
Because young people like to play games,
parents and educators should take this kind
of entertainment serious.
Fellini
(2008)
Qualitative
Action-research
Games are useful for education because
many young people in Italy play games.
Ito et al
(2008)
Quantitative
Survey (N=1138)
Provides overview of studies on ICT use and
youth culture.
Kutteroff et al. Quantitative
(2008)
Survey (N=1208)
Present broad spectrum of youth activities
and young people's attitude towards ICT.
Margaryan
et al (2008)
Survey (N=160)
Discusses the skills assertion of the net
generation. Most students have only basic
ICT-skills
Study
Quantitative
Results in relation to net generation,
media use or consequence for education
young people and a description of subcultures based on interactive media use (Ito et
al., 2008). Furthermore, only one study investigated the use of interactive media
among non-Western youth (Baki et al., 2008). The other studies investigated a
number of Western countries. The remainder of this article will also focus on
Western youth.
30 ! Chapter 2
With these studies a first step is taken into describing young people's use of
interactive media. The results ask for more research that investigates not only
interactive media use, but the user's motives for interactive media use in the context
of identity and youth culture developments as well. Furthermore, while most of the
research discussed here is descriptive, we argue for empirical research driven by
theory in general and sociological theory in particular. A sociological perspective
allows us to turn our attention to the motives of interactive media use, rather than
perceiving interactive media use as an end in itself. As we will reason later, these
motives should be the main concern of educational practices.
3. A sociological perspective to understand youth culture
It is obvious that youth culture in a certain era differs from its predecessors. Each
youth culture is a reflection of the societal constellation of its time (Frith, 1984):
hippies, punks, yuppies, skaters, and ravers, to name but a few. However, it appears
that contemporary youth culture develops itself in a different way from before:
where socializing institutions such as school, parents and the local community used
to be directing sources, youth culture increasingly appears to evolve with and
through interactive media and outside of school (Gee, 2004; Ito et al., 2008). It is in
this context that we discuss contemporary youth culture as a reflection of late
modernity. The expressions of youth culture itself, such as style of clothing, values
or music preferences will not be discussed here. Rather, we focus on the
developmental process and characteristics of youth culture in relation to interactive
media. In this way we provide a contextualized understanding of the social and the
cultural implications of contemporary modernity on youth. With this contextualized
understanding it is possible to pose specific questions as a foundation for further
research that intends to connect education to changing students.
4. Late modernity
Modernization refers to processes in which society goes through social changes that
transform the lives of individuals. The concept of 'modernity' in turn, describes the
results of modernization in a certain era. Although the modernization process is
characterized by gradual change and a certain direction, there are always different
tendencies with different dynamics affecting one another (Van den Brink, 2007). For
example, family life inclines to an increase in quality time spent with one’s spouses,
as well as with close relatives and friends. At the same time the work-domain asks
for extra-hours and high efforts in career development (Breedveld et al., 2006). These
two tendencies are also reflected in attempts to engage with others by means of
social software, such as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, each with their own
demanding
rhythm
(http://www.facebook.com;
http://www.linkedin.com;
http://www.twitter.com). The results of these tendencies therefore are often
ambivalent. Ambivalence, together with complexity, is a characteristic aspect of our
current, late modern way of living (Beck, Giddens, & Lash, 1994; Cieslik & Pollock,
2002). This can be seen in an increasing pluriformity within life domains such as
education, family, work, leisure activities or healthcare. Although a certain
normative consensus within each domain exists, conflicts of interest can arise
between domains (Van den Brink, 2007), making it very difficult to give meaning to
one’s life in a coherent manner. It gets even more complex when expectation
standards in each domain rise. We have to be successful as a parent, as a friend and
as a colleague, all simultaneously (Breedveld et al., 2006).
Van den Brink (2007) and Elchardus and Glorieux (2002) argue that with a
growing focus on consumption, an extension of education and an increasing range
of career opportunities, we live in a world with abundance of choice and an
increasing pluriformity. Nonetheless, this pluriformity is connected to tradition.
Behind the freedom of choice, society is still quite organized. People have a want for
change, individual freedom of choice and personal development. At the same time,
they strive for continuity and tradition and are in need of a frame of reference.
The traditional forces are usually explained by the classical modernization
thesis. This thesis describes the development of societies from traditional to modern
(Cieslik & Pollock, 2002). The classical modernization process resulted in a social
order characterized by rationalization and the elimination of personal preferences
and reflexivity (Van den Brink, 2007). In this social order worldview
(Weltanschauung), social status and gender heavily defined the environmental
framework for social relations and participation and the framework for taste,
identity and a way of giving meaning to the world (Elchardus & Glorieux, 2002).
This guiding framework resulted in security and a clear view on, for instance,
education- and work-opportunities. Subsequently, local communities and family
saw to it that people would stay within the confinements of their social environment.
32 ! Chapter 2
However, even in classical modernity a person’s social activities took place in
several domains. But in contrast with late modernity, the norms within these various
domains followed from tradition. The domains a person would engage in shared
norms and values as a result of a guiding framework. For example, people attended
a specific school and a sports club based on a particular religion or worldview (Van
den Brink, 2007). The current disappearance of this guiding framework results in a
multitude of possible domains to engage in. These domains reach all aspects of
social life such as consumption, education, career opportunities or leisure. While the
diversity in domains increases, their coherence diminishes.
But where does this disappearance of guidance come from? What causes the
retreat of social structures (Lash, 1994)? In the last two decades of the twentieth
century, many social scientists saw the emergence of a new force in society (Beck et
al., 1994). This force lets rationality disappear and negotiation and influence replace
power and authority. Traditional, strong collective forms of solidarity are
undermined and are being replaced by individual forms of responsibility (Van den
Brink, 2007). This means that one’s actions, taste and the way one gives meaning to
the world are no longer seen as exclusively influenced by ideology, social status or
gender. Contemporary sociologists found educational level, media usage and social
capital to be important descriptors as well (Elchardus & Glorieux, 2002).
The resulting combination of descriptors leads to a field of force of restricting
tradition and liberating plurality. The co-existence of these forces means that
modernization consists of a realignment of fracture paths with their origins in the
past, rather than a sequence of breaking points (Elchardus & Glorieux, 2002).
Fracture paths are frayed and follow more or less the course of time, similar to
grains in rocks. They provide a gradual fading in and out of ideas and
interpretations. If this were the case, would it be possible to pose questions about the
consequences of the modernization process? How do young people deal with the
tension between tradition and freedom of choice? Do they use interactive media as a
way out of this tension? Hence, what effects could late modernity have on the way
people learn? In this article, these questions will not be answered directly. Instead,
they will be examined by relating the characteristics of late modernity to youth
culture and the functions of interactive media within this culture. In order to do so,
we introduce the sociological concepts of social space and cultural space.
All social action is structured in spaces, around objects and in time (Berger &
Luckmann, 1966). Where during the pre-internet era social action took place in
physical spaces, today it takes place in both physical and virtual spaces (Van den
Boomen, 2000). The whole of a person's patterns of social relations and forms of
participation, can be called social space (Elchardus & Glorieux, 2002). A person’s
social space is dynamic and its boundaries change during one's life span (Bourdieu,
1984). For instance, a 4 year old child engages in a social space confined by home,
kindergarten, buddies from school and the sports club. A student’s social space on
the other hand might consist of the university campus, ski-camp in the mountains, a
favorite bar, Second Life and an occasional visit to the parent’s house.
An essential part of social action is communication with others. By means of
communication people discuss, evaluate and judge one another, their actions and
the objects in their social spaces. Hence through social action intersubjective reality is
established, by means of which people give meaning to the world around them
(Berger & Luckmann, 1966). We call these patterns of values, ideas, taste and identity
cultural space (cf. Elchardus & Glorieux, 2002). Whereas the notion of social space
directs our attention to the social and material aspects of human actions, cultural
space directs our attention to the more symbolical aspects of human actions. The
question is whether and how young people use interactive media as part of their
actions for shaping and maintaining their social and cultural space. This question
points to respectively the social function and the cultural function of interactive
media. We consider both the social and cultural functions as basic motives for
We now turn to the way in which the development of both social and cultural
space of youth is influenced by societal tendencies. We discuss the specific influence
of late modernity by means of four sensitizing concepts.
5. Youth culture and interactive media: four sensitizing concepts
As we discussed above, world-view, gender and social class, next to educational
level, media use and social capital, are seen as strong descriptors of a person's
behavior and its perception. This large number of descriptors combined with a
growing diversity of domains results in a complex tissue of factors influencing
people’s social activities and values and beliefs. Youth culture in late modernity, in
our view, reflects this development. It consists of a mix of renewal with lines trading
34 ! Chapter 2
back to tradition. The main question that typifies contemporary youth culture is:
how to deal with the increasing freedom of choice and opportunities in late modern
society without losing connection with tradition and security? In what follows we
describe youth culture in late modernity in more detail by discussing the following
concepts: insecurity, reflexivity, affinity spaces, and shape-shifting portfolio people.
Insecurity and reflexivity are key concepts in late modernity theory (Beck et al., 1994;
Giddens, 1993). Affinity spaces and shape-shifting portfolio people (Gee, 2004)
connect late modernity to present-day media use. As Blumer (1954) argues, these
kinds of concepts do not provide prescriptions but are sensitizing in nature since
they suggest what to look for and where to look (cf. Bowen, 2006). This means that in
late modern society all social action reflects these four concepts, but that differences
between individuals may appear. In order to understand how youth culture
develops and what the function of interactive media is in this development, we
“give the sense of the concept[s] by the use of a few apt illustrations” (Blumer 1954,
p. 5). We point to questions that are important for education by means of examples
from literature and current research. These examples describe how contemporary
youth seem to use the social and cultural functions of interactive media to find a way
in, and give meaning to their social environment. Important parts of young people’s
environment are education and learning. In this context it is important to note that
we refer here to education as an institutionalized form of learning, and refer to
learning when also considering learning outside of educational institutions.
Discussing sensitizing concepts by means of illustrations, we specify questions for
education and doubts about the existence of a homogeneous net generation.
5.1 Insecurity / ontological security
In the process of modernization, tradition and authority loose their influence. This
gives people a broad range of unexpected possibilities in defining their social and
cultural space. Prerequisite is an active attitude of people to make choices and to
give meaning to their life. However, an active attitude without any frame of
reference leads to insecurity (Cieslik & Pollock, 2002; Giddens, 1993). As a result of
insecurity, people start to look for mutual trust and ontological security. Where in
traditional society the family functioned as a main source of ontological security, in
late modern society experts, next-door friends and online communities have taken
over this role (Poster, 2006). Contemporary youth appear to be looking beyond
traditional references for giving meaning to the world. They do so, in different
degrees, online. For instance, they join specific networks, such as game clans, or
peer-directed online networks, such as Facebook. This however indicates a large
diversity among youth. Every youngster might play a game once in a while, but
because of the complexity and time efforts involved, only specific groups form game
clans or become active uploaders to a Youtube channel (cf. Bennett et al., 2008).
The shift in sources for maintaining ontological security can also be found in
weblogs and Internet forums where young people search and discuss opinions and
experiences rather than look for factual information (De Haan & Van ‘t Hof, 2006).
This search for opinions is in line with the organization of authentic experiences in
education, as is increasingly favoured by several authors (cf. Volman, 2007; cf. Roth
& Lee, 2007).
By searching for opinions and experiences, young people are actively
working on formation of their beliefs and values. However, in late modernity belief
systems are created from a diversity of experiences in a multitude of rather
incoherent domains. By result these systems are no longer straightforward. Could
this mean that education also has a task in providing some ontological security, for
instance by encouraging students to develop their own learning goals? Or are there
other options available to help young people create ontological security? According
to Gee (2004) it becomes important for education in late modernity to introduce
students to the identity and culture of the professions or knowledge domains for
which they are educated. This symbolic frame of reference, also called epistemic
frame (Shaffer, 2006; Shaffer & Gee, 2005), could help students wonder about what it
means exactly to become and to be a professional, for instance a journalist. What
does a journalist do? What does his social network look like? Where does he get his
job satisfaction and how can he keep his knowledgeability up to date? Today,
students themselves look for answers to these questions on Internet forums.
However, they do so with the risk of finding only partial or wrong information on
the basis of a particular opinion. Are epistemic frames valuable structures for
education in learning students how to gather knowledge about professions and
associated participation, skills, knowledge and attitudes?
Though late modernity comes along with engagements in a multitude of less
coherent domains, people, similar as in early modernity, maintain to search for
securities by means of creating local cultures (Hermans & Hermans-Konopka, 2009).
36 ! Chapter 2
As interactive media are intensively used to connect to others, and more
importantly, to create social groups and boundaries hereof, it is important to study
how these local cultures are created. Also, the different types of media seem to allow
for different ways of social organization.
If we acknowledge the role of interactive media in the shaping of local
cultures, it is to be expected that the application of interactive media in education, as
a goal in itself, does not have any additional value (cf. Buckingham, 2008). Instead,
before applying interactive media in education, we need to know how various types
of media enable facilitation of ontological security. In what ways and by means of
what interactive media do students participate in social networks beyond the
borders of their traditional social space, as our examples incline? In what ways and
by means of what interactive media do they develop their cultural space by looking
for other's opinions, values and beliefs? In light of these research questions it is also
important to study whether there are differences among students in using specific
interactive media for the social and cultural function of ontological security.
5.2 Reflexivity
The search for ontological security requires a reflexive attitude (Beck et al., 1994). A
reflexive attitude entails an active judgement of options, possible meanings and
perspectives. The principle of reflexivity is known as the Thomas theorem: “If men
define situations as real, they are real in their consequences” (Thomas 1928, p. 2). It
means that people examine their own and others’ practices and try to give meaning
to them. Their subsequent social actions are based on these interpretations. As a
result of an endless stream of incoming information, modern social life asks people
for a constant examination of their social practices (Giddens, 1993). This requires an
active reflection about all options: what is good and what is bad in particular
situations? What is wise to do and what is not? What does something or someone
mean to me? Do I want to become a lifelong member of a football club, with a
commitment in both bad and good times? Or do I want to play the trendiest sport of
the moment, just for fun? With a growing diversity in domains and a dynamically
changing social and cultural space, a person’s identity becomes less stable and more
fluctuating and fragmented (Hermans, 2006). The challenge in our network-society is
to create a coherent narrative about one’s identity. Nowadays friends and the
Internet are sources that appear to guide our reflexivity. Profile sites such as
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) let people play with and narrate their
identities, while games give the opportunity to reflect on models of the world,
power or Newtonian physics (Gee, 2008).
Which evaluative criteria are part of a reflexive attitude in late modernity can
be understood from Frith’s discussion of how listeners judge music. Following
Bourdieu (1984), Frith (1991) distinguishes between three discourses through which
critical judgments about music are made. First, the art discourse that refers to the
transcendental aspects of cultural experience. Culture in this discourse rises above
the ordinary. Second is the folk discourse, which refers to integration. Cultural
experience in this context is about a sense of place and belonging. The third
discourse is called pop, and refers to fun and routinized pleasures. Frith argues that
these three discourses are not separated but rather work together in shaping taste
patterns (Frith, 1991). Siongers and Stevens (2002) argue that these criteria for
judgment of music can be extended to other cultural domains as well. The art
discourse in their terms is about quality and seriousness. The folk discourse is about
authenticity and the pop discourse is about fun. Following this line of reasoning, it
appears that young people apply these discourses as part of their reflexive attitude
in developing meaning and identity. Striving for seriousness and quality can, for
instance, be found on web forums with game reviews such as Gamerankings or
Gamespot (http://www.gamerankings.com; http://www.gamespot.com). In the
endless stream of new game productions only the ones with good reviews survive.
Review sites function as guides in the reflexive definition of quality. Young people
today appear to have a sharp sense for things being unauthentic (Boschma & Groen,
2006; cf. Shaffer, 2006). Commercial reality TV shows, in which reality is created
rather than discovered, are ruthlessly called ‘creality’ (Wijnberg, 2007). Next to
quality and authenticity, every experience or product appears to be in need of a fun
factor. One could relate ‘fun’ in this sense to commitment. Games, sports, websites
or music do not ask for a long-term commitment and are interesting as long as they
are fun (cf. Elchardus & Glorieux, 2002). From these examples it can be concluded
that although the framework of discourses on art, folk and pop remains, it is applied
in a very goal-oriented manner. For instance, while fun in itself is not goal-oriented,
the reflexive search for things being fun indeed is. In this way the framework adds to
young people's goal-oriented and practical attitudes (cf. Rubens, De Jong & Prozee,
et al., 2006).
38 ! Chapter 2
For education, so we believe, an awareness of the broad spectrum of options
to reflect on everyday life is required. Could this mean a decline in authority of
teachers and the educational system? We do not think so, but rather expect that
relevant authority for teachers can be found in assuring quality, authenticity and
fun, in relation to the aforementioned epistemic frames. As Shaffer and Gee (2005)
argue, it is in authentic situations that students are taken seriously as reflective
agents and become engaged in thinking about their future career. A study in the
Netherlands among 203 Vocational Education and Training (VET) students showed
that actively preparing students for their in-company apprenticeship resulted in a
more pro-active attitude towards supervisors and the job itself (Meijers & Kuijpers,
2007). Involving students in authentic professional situations was found to enhance
their reflexive attitude.
We want to stress that accounting for reflexivity within education asks for an
open mind or broad worldview (Diepstraten, 2006). However, as noted by Bruner
(1990), this open-mindedness goes together with accountability:
“I take open-mindedness to be a willingness to construe knowledge and
values from multiple perspectives without loss of commitment to one’s own
values. ...It demands that we be conscious of how we come to our knowledge
and as conscious as we can be about the values that lead us to our
perspectives. It asks that we be accountable for how and what we know” (p.
30).
The result of reflexive practices within education can create a great variation
in opinions and ideas between individual students, for instance, in the meaning of
professional practice or knowledge domains.
When watching interactive practices of youth, it seems they use all their
experiences, both local and global, to reflexively create ontological security. Weblogs
are in this context an example of narrative reflection. But YouTube videos can have
this function as well, for instance when events are criticized in a parody
(http://www.youtube.com). By sharing and responding to other's reflections, these
applications are an important mechanism of defining collective values and beliefs. In
a different way, those games and applications where players have the role of
constructor or producer of the (game) world, appear to let students learn and
develop their reflexivity (cf. Shaffer, 2006; cf. Huisman & Marckmann, 2005). By
means of media production young people are forced to look at themselves.
Furthermore, responses from audiences make students aware of others' responses
(Weber & Mitchell, 2008).
This suggests that different types of interactive media have particular
reflexive functions in the establishment of social and cultural spaces. It is worthwhile
investigating further how these media can be relevant as such in education? Should
education apply YouTube videos in group discussions, or producer games in science
class? What kind of media do youth prefer in light of this function? This also means
taking into account different forms of interaction and reflexivity, as well as
individual differences amongst youth.
5.3 Affinity spaces
We have reasoned so far that youth, due to high dynamics and cross-border
connections in their social and cultural space, search for ontological security and
connect more reflexively to others and to content. It may appear as if a reflexive
attitude is the only way for youth to prevent its social and cultural spaces becoming
chaotic and unstructured.
How do young people organize and give direction to their social and cultural
spaces? Contemporary youth culture no longer has the form of a counter-culture
(Cieslik & Pollock, 2002) based on consumption, such as hippies or punks. Instead of
standing up against their parents or society, young people today are focused on
actively creating their own ontological security (Cieslik & Pollock, 2002; Giddens,
1993). They do this mainly by means of both consumption ánd production. This is
reflected in the high activity in downloading, remixing and uploading personal
digital content such as photographs, music, videos and games. These activities allow
young people to participate in specific social environments. It can be said that this
participation is informed by affinity with either peers or content (Ito, et al., 2008). For
instance, people play games because it is a way of connecting to their friends. Others
might get involved in making online videos to show others about their hobbies
(Weber & Mitchell, 2008). In this process, young people’s social and cultural space
gets its shape by temporary alliances and individual meaning.
Youtube (http://www.youtube.com), Myspace (http://www.myspace.com),
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) or Hyves (http://www.hyves.nl), are
40 ! Chapter 2
examples of the (virtual) spaces where groups of young people meet, find
information and where they discuss and judge each other's efforts in giving meaning
to the world. Because of the limited preservability of these shared interest groups,
Gee (2004) calls them affinity spaces. An important aspect of these affinity spaces is
the fact that they are not institutionalized. Affinity spaces therefore reflect the
tendency that personal networks take over functions from public communities (Van
den Boomen, 2000). By result, these networks become important (mediated) sources
for ontological security (cf. Van den Boomen, 2000). They fit into a reflexive attitude
that lets people flip from one interesting topic to the next. A good example can be
found in Internet forums where anorexia patients (shortly termed “Ana”) and
boulimia patients (“Mia”) help each other in making sense of their identity (Giles,
2006). These affinity spaces have literally a limited preservability because hosting
providers often close down the forums as a result of controversial content or
purposes. The shared interest here consists of life as Ana or Mia. A similar kind of
interest can be found on forums run by Moroccan youth in the Netherlands
(Brouwer &Wijma, 2006) or websites that enable girls to develop their feminine
identity (Kelly et al., 2006). Discussions on these forums deal with a shared cultural
background and what it means to be a Moroccan in the Netherlands. These examples
show rather strong identity ties between the visitors of the forums. Instant
messaging on the other hand shows the importance of weak ties (Granovetter, 1973)
as well. Many young people today have over 100 ‘friends’ on their instant messaging
contact-list (Duimel & De Haan, 2007; Van den Beemt, et al., 2010), but on a regular
basis they chat with less than twenty of them.
The sum of affinity spaces and face-to-face networks implies different levels
of scale, formality and closeness, and different kinds of social networks. Together
these networks form the social embedding of the individual (Van den Boomen,
2000), as such defining an individual’s social space. This social space is changing in
terms of decreasing the number of real world outlets where one becomes part of a
community (Williams, 2006) and an increasing use of weak ties (Diepstraten, 2006).
However, educational systems rely on long-term trajectories and a subsequent
commitment. Could it be that weak ties and a limited preservability conflict with
these long-term trajectories?
Many (young) people gather together on forums for a specific goal, be it their
next holiday, comparing digital camera’s before buying one or debating about
religion and politics. With a goal-oriented and practical attitude (Rubens et al., 2006),
it might be the case that young people easily switch brands or leave forums. Affinity
spaces appear to be important for networking and developing opinions. They add to
a vision on what is important for one’s portfolio. This resembles characteristics of
present-day students who favor informal and constructivist learning (Diepstraten,
2006). By grouping themselves in affinity spaces, young people form their
reflexivity. Should education acknowledge affinity spaces as part of the epistemic
frame, while taking into account diversity among students? By allowing peer
learning, affinity spaces make the authority of an educator no longer obvious, but
nonetheless important (cf. Ito et al., 2008).
Social and cultural spaces are increasingly defined around affinities. This
development can be seen in the intensive use of social software or online games.
Therefore, affinity spaces should not be set aside as something students deal with
outside school hours. Instead, we argue that an exploration of how education can
connect to the affinity spaces that students engage in is necessary. This exploration
should result in ways to deal with the diversity of questions and opinions that
different students are facing in their social and cultural spaces.
5.4 Shape-shifting portfolio people
People's social and cultural spaces change over time, along with changes in
reflexivity and affinities. In response to the sociological tendencies described above,
it has been stressed that people in late modernity can be seen as shape-shifting
portfolio people. Shape-shifting portfolio people:
are people who see themselves in entrepeneurial terms. That is, they see
themselves as free agents in charge of their own selves as if those selves were
projects of business. They believe they must manage their own risky
trajectories through building up a variety of skills, experiences and
achievements in terms of which they can define themselves as successful now
and worthy of more success later (Gee, 2004, p.105).
Shape-shifting portfolio people act in a flexible way when chances appear. They
value experience above credentials, combine different strategies and explore every
opportunity. It appears that this description fits those students who have an
42 ! Chapter 2
exploring flexible attitude towards, for instance, interactive media (Rutgers, 2007).
The result of this flexibility appears to be that young people develop a portfolio
filled with experiences, opinions and identities. By filling their life-portfolio on the
go, in situated actions full of contingency, young people develop their course of life
in terms of ‘reversible transitions’ (Du Bois-Reymond, as cited in Cieslik & Pollock,
2002). In this way they become shape-shifters who reflexively define ontological
security by using affinity spaces.
Diepstraten (2006) shows that an important aspect of students who create
their own shape-shifting biography, is a line of outer-school activities parallel to the
school-trajectory. This enforces Gee’s (2004) statement of the importance of learning
experiences outside school. Could this mean that education should be aware of the
life biography portfolios of her students? Does it indicate that knowledge, skills and
attitude, and hence career opportunities increasingly are being formed by a
combination of school-credentials and outer-school experiences? If we accept the
diversity in biography portfolios, it is of importance for education to be informed
about the role of interactive media in making transparent and maintaining these life
narratives.
Similar as with the other sensitizing concepts mentioned, we can expect a
variety in the extent and form of shape shifting among students. However, for all
students counts that although their life biography is still influenced by traditional
descriptors such as their parents' social position, people have more flexibility
compared to earlier modern times. Interactive media seem to play important roles in
allowing shape-shifters to look beyond traditional borders.
Still, there will be a portion of students that cannot be defined as shapeshifting portfolio people. If educational practice intends to think in terms of
ontological security, reflexivity, affinity spaces, and shape shifters, how can the more
traditional students be reached? Who are these students? Is it relevant to engage
them in interactive media and shape-shifting? Answering this question implies an
investigation of the available applications while taking into account the diversity in
shape-shifting characteristics among students.
6. Conclusion and discussion
Contemporary Western society can be characterized by a field of force consisting of
liberating plurality on the one hand, and a search for traditional securities on the
other. This field of force goes together with the simultaneous processes of
globalization and localization (Hermans & Hermans-Konopka, 2009). These
processes lead to personal solutions and a variety of local cultures. Accordingly,
different types of media are being used in shaping life trajectories and affinity
spaces.
In this article we stated that the net generation debate, despite its value, has
two limitations. Firstly, the debate presumes homogeneity among all contemporary
youth. Secondly, the debate's focus is on the use of interactive media rather than the
underlying motives. The review of existing research on interactive media use
showed that instead of one homogeneous generation, there are subgroups to be
found. Furthermore our review showed that the meaning and motives for media use
are not studied well, nor are identity issues.
In response to these limitations, we tried to describe young people's
interactive media use in the context of a sociological description of contemporary
Western youth culture. With this description we investigated social and cultural
functions of interactive media use. We have perceived these functions as the basic
motives for interactive media use. Results of this investigation are important
questions that we claim should be posed first, when aiming to connect educational
practices to its changing students.
Youth culture in late modernity has been discussed while taking into account
the ongoing traditional characteristics of society. By this account we were able to
stress that societies still reflect earlier times, and thereby are not as radically different
as is suggested in the net generation debate. Our sociological description was framed
by four sensitizing concepts. For each concept we discussed what questions for
education emerge from observing the change in youth culture. The illustrations
provided should be seen as suggestions for further research rather than suggestions
to be realized.
Should education provide ontological security for students? If this is to be
true, how can security be accomplished? Shaffer (2006) provides a possible solution
in the form of epistemic frames. It would be worthwhile to investigate the notion of
epistemic frames in the context of education, while looking at the potential role of
different types of media in the creation of these frames.
The concept of reflexivity led us to conclude that education requires an
awareness of the broad spectrum of opinions, meanings and perspectives in
44 ! Chapter 2
everyday life. Contemporary reflexivity can lead to a great variation between
individual students. Acknowledging this variation in education means accepting
ambiguity in the meaning students give to, for example, particular knowledge
domains or professional practices. An important question is how educational
practices, particularly in mass education, can create enough space for this variety.
The concept of affinity spaces showed us the conflict between on the one
hand weak ties and a limited preservability, and on the other hand the long-term
trajectories in education. Affinities appear to be important structures and directions
for social and cultural spaces. They add to a vision about what is important for one’s
portfolio. In line with authentic forms of education, we should investigate whether
and how teachers can connect affinity spaces of students to the particular epistemic
frames (e.g. certain domains) in education.
The concept of shape-shifting portfolio people showed us how young people
actively fill their life-portfolio with all kinds of experiences. What does this
development mean for education? Does it mean that career opportunities are being
formed by a combination of school-credentials and outer-school experiences? And
what is the potential role of interactive media in developing the life portfolios of
students? Furthermore, not all students will be shape-shifters. How should
education approach the more traditional students?
The four sensitizing concepts provide a perspective on the use of interactive
media among contemporary students. The specific constellation of these concepts
influences a person's social behavior and systems of values and beliefs. We
distinghuished social space and cultural space as areas of participation where people
develop and maintain respectively their social relations and symbolic aspects of
everyday life.
From an educational research perspective, it is important to know how
students shape their social and cultural space around a diversity of affinities. How
do students fill their portfolio? What social relations and patterns result from their
interactive media use? What values and beliefs do they develop by means of
interactive media? In obtaining this knowledge, it is important to clarify the function
of each medium for shaping social and cultural spaces.
Taken together, for each interactive medium, the research question is: what is
its social function and what is its cultural function? Only by answering these
questions education can fully value the functional application of interactive media,
while taking into account the diversity among users. The answer to these questions
is important in creating reflexive, authentic and collaborative learning environments
contributing to ontological securities and showing future directions. Investigating
these questions is likely to reveal a heterogeneity (in contrast to the presupposed
homogeneity) of contemporary youth in its ways of searching for ontological
security, being reflexive, and engaging in affinity spaces.
We want to close with emphasizing that we should empirically substantiate
the social and cultural function of interactive media, before starting educational
renewal. We should, for example, not put lots of effort in using games in education,
if it is only for making learning more fun. This would be a too superficial account of
what drives students. We should first investigate what functions games have in
terms of the maintenance and development of the social and cultural space of youth.
Moreover, research in this context should take into account the differences between
groups of young people, rather than approaching them as one dominant group. The
four sensitizing concepts, together with social and cultural space, provide a useful
conceptual framework for this research. Answering the research questions should
comprise both in-depth and broad investigations, for instance by means of
interviews and surveys. Following the call for empirical evidence rather than
assertions (Bennett et al., 2008), we have started this investigation in the Netherlands
(Van den Beemt, et al., 2010).
Research on the questions raised in this article requires insights from
sociological, educational and media studies. With this article, we have made a first
attempt to link these three scientific fields. As we hope to have pointed out
education, and educational science can no longer set aside what happens in outerschool context. By means of the dialogue between disciplines, education can
understand and find ways to connect to the daily lives of young people, and take
into account how they think, communicate and learn.
46 ! Chapter 2
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52 ! Chapter 2
CHAPTER THREE
The use of interactive media
among today’s youth:
Results of a survey1
!
Abstract
The intensive use of interactive media has led to assertions about the effect of these media on
youth. This paper presents a quantitative study on the position of interactive media in young
people’s lives. Rather than following the assumption of a homogeneous generation, we
investigate the existence of a diversity of user patterns. The research question for this paper:
Can patterns be found in the use of interactive media among youth? We answer this question
by a survey among Dutch youngsters aged 10 to 23. Four clusters of interactive media users,
namely Traditionalists, Gamers, Networkers and Producers were identified using cluster
analysis. Behind these straightforward clusters, a complex whole of user activities can be
found. Each cluster shows specific use of and opinions about interactive media. This provides
a contextualized understanding of the position of interactive media in the lives of
contemporary youth, and a nuanced conceptualization of the ‘Net generation’. This allows for
studying the intricate relationship between youth culture, interactive media and learning.
1
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (2010). The use of interactive media
among today's youth: results of a survey. Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 26, 1158-1165.
DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.022
54 ! Chapter 3
1. Introduction
During the last decade, games and Internet applications, together comprising
interactive media, have become tools for information and communication that are
used daily by the so-called ‘Net generation’ (Tapscott, 1998). This has led to assertions
about the enormous effect of interactive media on youth2 (cf. Prensky, 2006; cf.
Tapscott, 1998). These assertions describe today's youth as using interactive media
with great intensity and skill (Bennett, Maton, & Kervin, 2008).
The net generation discourse often starts from these assertions to describe the
difference between contemporary youth and older generations. For instance,
Tapscott (1998) and Prensky (2006) based their work on two sets of binary
oppositions, between television and Internet technology, and between the
babyboomer generation and the net generation (Buckingham, 2008). This stark
opposition has contributed to an image of today's young interactive media users as
one homogeneous group, rather than as diversified in subgroups.
Often, the net generation discourse is motivated by a concern about the
relationship between young people, interactive media and education (cf. Oblinger &
Oblinger, 2005; cf. Shaffer & Gee, 2005). Buckingham (2008) speaks in this respect of
a digital divide between in-school and out-of-school use, which he sees as a symptom
of the "widening gap between young people's everyday 'life world' outside school
and the emphases of many educational systems" (Buckingham, 2007 as cited in Ito,
Horst, Bittanti, Boyd, Herr-Stephenson, Lange, et al., 2008, p. 4). The net generation
discourse is valuable for education, because it provides a framework to pose
questions and make decisions regarding the use of interactive media in learning.
However, this discourse often starts from the premise of today's youth being one
generation. Moreover, the discourse tends to focus on computer and internet use
and skills instead of the meaning of interactive media in young people's lives
(Bennett, et al., 2008; Margaryan & Littlejohn, 2008). By studying the use of
interactive media and the resulting social relations, we are able to describe an
important part of young people's social space. It is by and through this social space,
that people develop their values and beliefs, as such informing their cultural space
(Van den Beemt, Akkerman, & Simons, 2007). Investigating both young people's
2
'Youth' refers to a cohort of young people, especially those aged 10 to 25, rather than to the
social construct of youthfulness. See also Buckingham (2008) for a discussion of 'youth' as a
social construct.
The use of interactive media among today's youth ! 55
social and cultural space, in terms of use and meaning, contributes to a better
understanding of youth's perspective on interactive media.
In a number of studies, the premise of a skillful and homogeneous generation is
seriously questioned by empirical research. According to these studies, young
people have intermediate rather than high ICT-skills (Cameron, 2005; Margaryan &
Littlejohn, 2008) and their internet use is characterized by "relatively mundane forms
of communication and information retrieval" rather than "spectacular forms of
innovation and creativity" (Buckingham, 2008, p. 14). A small number of studies pay
attention to gender differences. These studies show that generally, gender
differences are not very pronounced for interactive media use itself (Hargittai, 2010;
Jones, Ramanau, Cross, & Healing, 2009; McQuillan & O'Neill, 2009), apart from
games, which boys play two times as often compared to girls (Duimel & De Haan,
2007; Kutteroff & Beherens, 2009; Schulmeister, 2008). Furthermore, boys are
somewhat more skilled in internet use compared to girls (Hargittai, 2010). Young
people use interactive media intensively (Schulmeister, 2008; Duimel & De Haan,
2007). However, there appears to be a diversity in kinds of media being used, both
within as well as between age categories (Duimel & De Haan, 2007; Ito, et al., 2008;
Kutteroff & Behrens, 2008, 2009; Schulmeister, 2008). Because most studies focus
either on one educational level, or on age groups regardless of education, it is
difficult to draw conclusions about the relation between education and interactive
media use. Taken together, these results show diversity among youth in the skills,
the kinds of media being used, as well as in the user intensity. These results do not
point in the direction of a net generation as one skillful and homogeneous group.
The investigation into the net generation often begins with pre-defined classes
of activities such as 'information retrieval', 'social networking', 'online gaming' or
'downloading' (Kutteroff & Behrens, 2008; Duimel & De Haan, 2007; Livingstone &
Bober, 2005). Despite the usefulness of these classifications, the relationship between
activities remains unclear. Investigating this relationship is valuable, since youth
culture studies show that young people use combinations of available content and
media to show others what they think is important (Weber & Mitchell, 2008). Profile
pages for instance, often show images of their owners merged with photographs of
popstars or sportsmen.This bricolage (Lévi-Strauss, 1962) of different kinds of both
content and interactive media can be studied by looking for patterns in the activities.
Does online gaming go together with information retrieval? Does social networking
56 ! Chapter 3
leave time for downloading music or films? Can a convergence of media activities be
found, or is there a divergence into separated user groups?
Instead of using pre-defined classes of interactive media, Ito et al. (2008) and
Jenkins (2006) start their research from the user's goals. This results in the concept of
participation: friendship-driven and interest-driven genres of participation (Ito, et al.,
2008). This perspective allows for describing combinations of activities based on the
purpose of either contact and communication or interest in specific informationdomains. This makes friendship-driven and interest-driven genres of participation
useful in the study of the meaning of interactive media to young people's lives.
Jenkins (2006), in his discussion of participation, uses the term 'production' for both
the creation of digital products, as well as for the interactive consumption that is part
of production. Consumption in this sense describes the ways in which popular
images are being collected, combined, critiqued and incorporated in new content
that presents the user's identity. Production leads to a convergence of media when
all kinds of content types and applications are being combined. What these studies
show is the importance of looking beyond activities per se, and of describing
possible motivations for interactive media use.
Following Ito et al. (2008), we argue that investigating solely a possible
diversity of media activities would lead to a limited view of the intricate relationship
between young people and interactive media. A classification of activities, however
useful, describes only one dimension, without examining the premise of the net
generation as a homogeneous group. We argue that more nuance in the view on
today’s youth can be obtained, for instance by investigating young people's social
space and cultural space. Investigating the social space entails a consideration of the
various kind of social activities of youth. Looking at user patterns, that is, analyzing
how youth uses different sets of media can reveal this. Investigating the cultural
space entails a consideration of the values and meanings developed through these
social activities. A first way of revealing this is by asking youth about their opinions
about the use interactive media for contacting other people. By looking at user
patterns and opinions about the use of interactive media, we expect that a second
dimension, formed by user groups, will appear. Considering both the dimension of
grouped activities and the dimension of grouped users allows us to study possible
consequences for education of intensive interactive media use by young people. For
instance, if our results would show that most students appear to be networkers with
a negative attitude towards gaming, education could consider using social software
instead of games as a learning tool.
We are currently investigating both dimensions by means of quantitative and
qualitative research. This paper presents the results of the quantitative research
which aims at describing the interactive media behavior among young people and
their stated opinions about these media. In order to investigate user activities and
opinions we formulated the following question: Can patterns be found in the interactive
media activities of young people? In answering this question, special attention will be
paid to gender and educational level in relation to user patterns, because we expect
differences for these two factors. For instance, social software, such as Facebook
(http://www.facebook.com), asks for a communicative attitude towards peers.
Games are often complex and they ask for spatial and strategic skills. Creating
interactive media content asks for a producing attitude. If the net generation exists,
we will not find differences in opinions about and use of interactive media for
gender or level of education. Furthermore, psychological accounts of adolescence,
such as the notion of 'moratorium' (Erikson, 1968), suggest that we need to
distinguish between age groups. In our study this is done by considering different
educational levels.
The answer to our main question forms the foundation for describing a
diversity of subcultures based on the place of specific interactive media in young
people's everyday life. Our analysis of user patterns will lead to new, more specific
questions for further research on young people and their media behavior. With these
results we wish to contribute to the net generation discourse, a better understanding
of the possible meaning of interactive media for education and learning.
2. Method
2.1. Participants
The participants of the study were 178 Dutch students, in education levels ranging
from primary education (N = 55; 25 female; age: M = 11.24, SD = .77), secondary
education (N = 94; 30 female; age: M = 14.45, SD = 1.45) to higher professional
education (N = 29; 4 female; age: M = 21.86, SD = 1.25) (see Table 1). Participating
schools were found through the Fontys University network. The study sample was
not drawn randomly because schools participated voluntarily, often with at least one
class of respondents. Because of the explorative nature of the study, and the
58 ! Chapter 3
intention to compare educational levels, all responding students were included in
our sample, instead of drawing a random selection.
The participating secondary and higher education schools have a curriculum
focused on technology. As a consequence these schools have more male students,
which affected the boy-girl ratio in our sample. The participating schools all had a
largely white middle class population.
Table1: Participants
Educational Level
Age group
Primary education
Secondary education
Higher professional education
10-13
12-16
19-23
Total
Number of
participants
Male
Female
55
94
29
30
60
25
25
30
4
178
119
59
2.2. Materials
The online survey consisted of 23 questions addressing actual use of interactive
media and opinions about specific media. Each item referred to one of all interactive
media used in the Netherlands at the time of inquiry. In Table 2 an overview of these
interactive media can be found. Examples of questions were:
How often do you:
- Surf the Internet
- Play console games
- Maintain your profile page
Do you agree with the following sentences:
- I like to play games together with others
- I feel unhappy when I cannot play games
- Sometimes I stay longer on MSN than I want to
Answer categories followed a five-point Likert scale ranging from 'never' to 'every
day' for activities and 'totally disagree' to 'totally agree' for opinions. Means of three
and larger indicate, respectively, a regular use and positive opinion. Because we
expected the strongest response for in- and out-group behavior, games and social
software, we asked mainly for opinions on these topics.
2.3. Procedure
The questionnaire was developed by incorporating key characteristics of subcultures
(Brake, 1985) and existing media research (Duimel & De Haan, 2007). The survey
was preceded by a 'think-aloud' session (Van Someren, Barnard, & Sandberg, 1994)
with three primary education students, to control for comprehension of the
questions and for the time required to fill in the survey. The results of this session
led to minor adjustments in the phrasing of questions. No further reading level
analysis was pursued. All respondents of the online survey received textual
instructions about the survey's purpose and ways to fill it in. The instructions
explained the purpose of the survey, that it would not be graded, and therefore that
any answer would be right. Furthermore, the students were asked to fill in the
survey at their own comfortable speed. Most schools arranged for each class to fill in
the survey in a computer laboratory with internet access. The survey was held
between February and April 2008.
2.4. Analytic strategy
The statistical analyses were performed in several steps. First, cluster analysis was
applied to explore the existence of categories of media activities. In order to do so,
Ward's method with squared Euclidian distance and z-scores (Aldenderfer &
Blashfield, 1984; Milligan & Cooper, 1988) was applied on the interactive media
items from the questionnaire. This resulted in a pattern of related activities. Cluster
analysis with the same method was applied on the cases to find a pattern of related
interactive media users. With a one-way ANOVA the significant difference in means
between the clusters of activities and users was checked. Levene's test of
homogeneity of variance showed a p < 0.05 for two clusters. Because of this violation
of homogeneity of variance, the Welch F-ratio is reported in the results section.
Furthermore the Games-Howell method was used for post hoc comparisons.
Following existing research (Duimel & De Haan, 2007), application use of at least
once per week is considered as 'regular' use.
Categories of opinions were derived from cluster analysis on variables,
applying Ward's method with squared Euclidian distance and z-scores. Again a oneway ANOVA was applied. Because the assumption of homogeneity of variance was
violated, the Welch F-ratio is reported and the Games-Howell method was used for
post hoc comparisons. In order to enhance the description of each user cluster, we
60 ! Chapter 3
analyzed specific correlations between opinions. These correlations, when of
relevance for the interpretation, will be discussed for each cluster separately.
3. Results
Our data show a diversity in the use of interactive media applications. All
respondents reported making use of at least one application once per week or more.
This means that there are no non-users in our sample. Myspace, wikis, podcasts,
Second Life and Skype were reported by respondents to be rarely used. On the other
hand, the more basic internet applications, such as e-mail, chat applications such as
MSN, or surfing the web, were used by more than two-thirds of our respondents.
3.1 Diversity in interactive media use and users
Cluster analysis applied on the use interactive media applications revealed four
significant clusters in the behavior of our participants. These clusters are an
indication of diversity in interactive media use. One cluster (see Table 2) consists of
e-mail, surfing the web, searching for information and MSN. Because these are
traditional, more basic internet activities, focused on the consumption of information
we labeled them 'browsing'. A second cluster, consisting of gaming activities, is a
form of interest-driven participation (cf. Ito et al., 2008) where users play a certain
role on a virtual stage. We labeled this cluster 'performing'. A third cluster can be
called friendship-driven, and consists of all kinds of social networking activities. We
labeled this cluster 'interchanging'. The last cluster consists of a larger number of
activities, all of them comprising some form of content production in line with
Jenkins (2006). We labeled this cluster 'authoring'. Together, the four clusters of
activities form a dimension of interactive media use ranging from consumption
(browsing) to production (authoring).
A second round of cluster analysis was applied to investigate how the clusters
of activities related to individual participants in our sample. This resulted in four
clusters describing types of media users. We labeled them according to the main
activity group in each user cluster: Traditionalist, Gamer, Networker and Producer.
Table2: Clusters of activities, Mean standardised score (and SD) within cluster
Cluster
Traditionalist
N=41
Gamer
N=64
Networker
N=32
Producer
N=21
Traditional
Search
E-mail
MSN
Surfing the web
Watching videos
Reading news sites
2,22 (1.20)
3.92
(1.14)
3.45
(1.12)
4.34
(1.02)
Gaming
Large pc games
Small pc games
Online games
Casual online games
Portable games
Console games
Mobile games
2.42
(1.37)
2.35
(1.33)
1.71
(.87)
3.21
(1.53)
Networking
1.14
Maintaining Hyves profile
Looking at profile pages
Leaving a scrap
Uploading photo to Hyves
Maint. weblog at Hyves
Reading weblogs
Maintaining weblog other
than profile
(.42)
2.02
(1.07)
3.12
(.90)
3.42
(1.60)
Producing
1.34
Skype
Uploading videos
Uploading photos other
than to profile
Looking at photo-album
Google Earth
Google Docs
Looking at Myspace
Uploading to Myspace
Downloading podcasts
Making music on pc
Reading Wikipedia
Downloading music
Downloading films
Habbo
(.58)
1.69
(.74)
1.49
(.63)
2.55
(1.36)
Activities
N = 158; Cluster analysis: Ward's method, Squared Euclidian distance, Z-scores;
1 = Never, 2 = Less than once a week, 3 = once per week, 4 = more times per week, 5 = daily.
These four clusters of respondents form a second dimension, this time of interactive
media users ranging from consumers (Traditionalist) to producers (Producer). A
one-way between subjects ANOVA was conducted to compare the activity clusters
for each user cluster. The results show that all four clusters of users have
significantly different mean scores on all four activity clusters at the p < 0.05 level,
62 ! Chapter 3
indicating that groups of users engage with different intensity in these activities:
browsing, F(3,154) = 74.93, p < 0.001; performing, F(3,154) = 17.59, p < 0.001;
interchanging, F(3,154) = 68.14, p < 0.001; authoring, F(3,154) = 64.65, p < 0.001.
Welch F-ratio showed a significant difference between activity clusters for all user
clusters, which confirms the ANOVA results: browsing, F(3,66.21) = 99.19, p < 0.001;
performing, F(3,64.11) = 19.68, p < 0.001; interchanging, F(3,58.81) = 162.00, p < 0.001;
authoring, F(3,62.27) = 37.14, p < 0.001.
As Table 3 shows, post hoc comparisons for browsing activities (p < 0.05)
indicated that all four user-clusters engage with significantly different intensity in
this type of activity: Traditionalists (M = 2.22, SD = .52), Gamers (M = 3.92, SD = .70),
Networkers (M = 3.45, SD = .72) and Producers (M = 4.34, SD = .55). For performing
activities, post hoc tests indicated that Traditionalists did not differ significantly
from Gamers in using games, as is represented in Table 3 by the '='-sign. However,
the other user-cluster combinations were indicated to engage with significantly
different intensity in performing: Traditionalists (M = 2.42, SD = .82), Gamers (M =
2.35, SD = .73), Networkers (M = 1.71, SD = .55) and Producers (M = 3.21, SD = .87).
Analyses of interchanging showed that Networkers (M = 3.12, SD = .48) and
Producers (M = 3.42, SD = 1.29) did not engage with significantly different intensity
in this activity. Traditionalists (M = 1.14, SD = .27) and Gamers (M = 2.02, SD = .76)
(p < 0.01) were indicated to engage with significantly different intensity in
interchanging. Finally, for producing activities, post hoc tests indicated a significant
difference between Gamers (M = 1.72, SD = .33) and Producers (M = 2.54, SD = .57),
and a non-significant difference between Traditionalists (M = 1.34, SD = .26) and
Networkers (M = 1.46, SD = .24). Taken together, these results suggest that a relation
exists between membership of a certain user group and kinds of activities people
participate in. The intensity of participation applies especially to browsing activities.
Specifically, our results suggest that Traditionalists and Gamers both engage in a
similar way in performing activities, while Networkers appear to engage
significantly less in performing activities. Networkers and Producers are most active
in interchanging, while Traditionalists and Gamers are significantly less active with
interchanging. Finally, our results suggest that only Producers are significantly
active with authoring. This makes Producers the most dedicated users of their own
applications, next to being the most intensive users of all kinds of interactive media.
Table3: Summary of post hoc results for groups of activities
Activities
Cluster
Traditionalist
Gamer
Networker
browsing
Producer
Networker
Gamer
Producer
Networker
Gamer
Producer
Networker
Gamer
Producer
Networker
Gamer
>
>
>
>
<
=
>
>
>
>
=
>
>
>
>
>
<
>
>
>
=
>
<
>
perfoming
interchanging
authoring
'=' indicates no significant difference between cluster means, '>' indicaties horizontal mean
significantly larger than vertical mean, '<' indicates horizontal mean significantly smaller than vertical
mean.
Following the gender issue in the Net generation debate, we analyzed the division of
user clusters among boys and girls. Table 4 confirms the popular belief that boys are
most often Gamers and girls are most often Networkers. Our data show the
strongest gender-difference for Gamers and Networkers, while boys and girls are
roughly as often a Traditionalist or a Producer. In addition to the gender issue, we
analyzed the relationship between educational level and user clusters (Table 4 and
Table 5). As Table 4 shows, Traditionalists are most often primary education pupils
(75.5%). Gamers (54.7%), Networkers (78.1%) and Producers (66.7%) can most often
be found among secondary education students. Table 5 shows that primary
education pupils are most often Traditionalist (64.4%). In secondary (41.7%) and
higher education (84.6%) the largest cluster is Gamer.
Table 4: Cluster membership: percentage - educational level and gender
Cluster
Educational level Traditionalist
Gamer
Networker
Producer
PE
SE
HPE
64.6
11.9
.0
14.6
41.7
84.6
10.4
29.8
7.7
10.4
16.7
7.7
100
100
100
Gender
Boys
Girls
26.2
25.5
52.4
18.2
6.8
45.5
14.6
10.9
100
100
Total
PE = Primary education, SE = Secondary education, HE = Higher Professional education.
64 ! Chapter 3
Table 5: Educational level: percentage - cluster membership
Cluster
Educational level Traditionalist
Gamer
Networker
Producer
PE
SE
HPE
75.6
24.4
.0
10.9
54.7
34.4
15.6
78.1
6.3
23.8
66.7
9.5
Total
100
100
100
100
PE = Primary education, SE = Secondary education, HE = Higher Professional education.
3.2. Diversity in opinions about interactive media
We analyzed the respondents' opinions about specific media, by applying cluster
analysis on the items as shown in Table 6a. The result was a grouping together of
opinions in four clusters (Table 6b). These clusters contain opinions about,
respectively, the importance of gaming, the importance of networking, gaming ingroup behavior and active play. The 'importance of gaming' and 'importance of
networking' clusters contain opinions about feeling unhappy when respondents
cannot use games or social software. The cluster 'game in-group behavior' combines
all in-group opinions characteristic for subcultures (cf. Brake 1985). 'Active play' is
formed by a preference for the Wii instead of non-physical games, together with a
preference for playing outside.
Table 6a: Opinions on media activities
Opinion code
Opinion - full description
1. Gaming together
2. Longer MSN
3. Unhappy no Hyves
4. Unhappy no games
5. Unhappy no MSN
6. Belong to group
7. Longer games
8. Gamers group
9. No-gaming friends
10. Important gaming
11. Like gamers better
12. Like Wii better
13. Pretending
14. Production
15. Join gaming friends
16. Playing outside
17. TV, not production
I like playing games with others
Sometimes I stay longer on MSN than I want to
I feel unhappy when I can't go on Hyves
I feel unhappy when I can't play games
I feel unhappy when I can't go on MSN
I want to belong to a group
Sometimes I play games longer than I want to
Because I play games, I belong to a special group
I have many non-gaming friends
It is important to be good at games
Children who play games are more fun than others
I prefer the Wii to games where you sit still
I like games because you can pretend things
I like internet and games because you can produce things
When friends play a game, I want to play that game as well
I prefer playing outside to gaming
I prefer television because you don't have to do anything
Answers on 5 point Lickert scale; 1 = completely disagree, 5 = completely agree
Table6b: Means for opinions on media activities
Cluster
Traditionalist
Gamer
Networker
Producer
Gaming
1. Gaming together
7. Longer games
13. Pretending
14. Production
15. Join gaming frnds
2.89
3.18
2.08
3.65
Networking
2. Longer MSN
3. Unhappy no Hyves
5. Unhappy no MSN
6. Belong to group
2.05
2.46
2.75
3.35
Game in-group
8. Gamers group
4. Unhappy no games
1.80
1.86
1.21
2.32
Active play
16. Playing outside
12. Like Wii better
3.51
3.33
3.47
3.53
Opinion
Answers on 5 point Lickert scale; 1 = completely disagree, 5 = completely agree
ANOVAs on the opinion clusters indicated that all user clusters have significantly
different mean scores for all opinions, apart from Active play: Importance of
gaming, F(3,153) = 18.34, p < 0.001; Importance of networking, F(3,153) = 18.32, p <
0.001; Game in-group, F(3,154) = 7.97, p < 0.001; Active play, F(3,153) = .39, p = .76.
These results are confirmed by Welch F-ratio, that also showed a significant
difference between all clusters, apart from Active play: Importance of gaming,
F(3,63.67) = 19.70, p < 0.001; Importance of networking, F(3,64.67) = 18.85, p < 0.001;
Game in-group, F(3,63.14) = 14.70, p < 0.001; Active play, F(3,62.34) = .42, p = .74.
Post hoc comparisons for 'importance of gaming' opinions using the GamesHowell test (p < 0.05) indicated that Traditionalists (M = 2.89, SD = .91) and Gamers
(M = 3.17, SD = .79) do not significantly differ from each other on this opinion. The
mean scores for Networkers (M = 2.08, SD = .75) and Producers (M = 3.65, SD = .88)
differed significantly from each other. For 'importance of networking' opinions, post
hoc tests showed a significant difference between Traditionalists (M = 2.05, SD = .62)
and Producers (M = 3.35, SD = .68) and a non-significant difference between Gamers
(M = 2.46, SD = .70) and Networkers (M = 2.74, SD = .70). Post hoc test for opinions
labeled 'game in-group' showed a significant mean score for Networkers (M = 1.20,
66 ! Chapter 3
SD = .39) and no significant differences for the other user clusters: Traditionalists (M
= 1.80, SD = .92), Gamers (M = 1.86, SD = .86) and Producers (M = 2.32, SD = 1.13).
Finally, post hoc tests for 'active play' showed no significant differences on the mean
scores for all user clusters: Traditionalists (M = 3.51, SD = 1.23), Gamers (M = 3.33,
SD = .85), Networkers (M = 3.47, SD = 1.02), Producers (M = 3.52, SD = .95). In line
with the results for activities, membership of a certain user group appears to be
related to types of opinions about specific interactive media. Specifically, our results
suggest that being a Networker influences opinions on games in a negative way.
This holds both for opinions about importance of gaming and for wanting to belong
to the group of gamers. Furthermore, our results indicate that Gamers and
Networkers do not differ significantly from each other on the stated importance of
networking. These results indicate that the Gamers appear to have a more positive
attitude towards networking than Networkers towards gaming. Being a Producer or
Traditionalist appears to influence the opinion on the importance of networking in a
positive and a negative way respectively. Finally, membership of a user cluster does
not significantly influence one's opinion on preferring the Wii and playing outside
('Active play').
Although analysis showed a grouping of activities in four clusters and a
grouping of respondents in the clusters Traditionalist, Gamer, Networker and
Producer, there appears to be a complex whole of activity-user combinations, rather
than a straightforward one-to-one mapping of clusters. Instead of each cluster of
users engaging solely in their 'own' kind of activities, the means for activities show
that all groups engage in a number of browsing activities as well. Furthermore, as
Table 4 shows, Producers engage in performing and interchanging activities.
Each user cluster, together with the opinions expressed by its members, forms a
pattern of interactive media use. In order to get a clear view on these patterns, we
will discuss each cluster in terms of intensity of media use, differentiation on age
and education level and acknowledged importance of media.
3.3. Traditionalists
The Traditionalists form one group of respondents. These respondents use the basic
functionalities of interactive media rather than web 2.0 applications. This might
explain the large percentage of primary education students. Members of the other
clusters use applications such as MSN, e-mail or search engines as well, which is
shown by the relatively high means for these activities. However, they do this
together with activities related to their own cluster of Networker, Gamer or
Producer. The basic level of interactive media use corresponds to the finding that
Traditionalists on average report to have no strong opinions about media activities
(see Table 6b). The high means for the 'Active Play' opinions are the result of the
primary education-students who state that they prefer the Wii and playing outside
to using a computer. As we can see from opinions 2 and 5 in Table 6b, of all the
clusters, Traditionalists appear to be the least depending on MSN.
3.4. Gamers
Gamers engage in all gaming activities in the questionnaire. They can most often be
found among secondary education students. Although Gamers, of all clusters, have
the lowest means on opinion 6 'I want to belong to a group', they prefer playing
together with others. Gamers on average state that they do not feel unhappy if they
cannot play games. However, there is a significant correlation (r = .41) between
gaming together and feeling unhappy when they can not play games, indicating that
the joy of gaming lies in its social aspect. The strongest correlation for opinions on
gaming activities can be found between pretending and production (r = .63). This
means that some gamers like games because you can pretend to be a superhero or a
manager of a zoo. The correlation shows that they also like the production of
(virtual) content in games. One can think in this respect of obtaining weapons in role
playing games or designing your car in racing games.
Gamers prefer to play large PC-games or online games, which is shown by
relatively high user means. Other clusters show high means for portable or casual
games, which corresponds to the lesser level of commitment needed for these games,
compared to console of PC-games.
3.5. Networkers
Networkers make use of all kinds of social software. In our sample this means
mainly a simultaneous use of several Hyves3 functionalities and MSN. Profile sites,
such as Hyves, are being maintained by two-thirds of all young people in secondary
and higher education. Most active are the secondary education students, while half
of the primary education students report that they do not ‘own’ a profile page. This
3
Hyves, a website resembling Facebook, is the most popular social networking site in the
Netherlands at the time of inquiry.
68 ! Chapter 3
latter group consists mainly of 10-year-olds. Networkers are mainly found among
secondary education students in our sample.
Responding to pages of others is most often done by secondary education
students. Owners of profile pages spend more time maintaining their own page
than looking at or responding to pages of others. However, for all educational levels
there is a strong correlation (Pearson’s correlation > 0.7, p < 0.01) between having a
profile page and looking at and responding to the pages of others. Networkers on
average state that they are least unhappy when they cannot play games, which
shows a difference in attitude between Networkers and Gamers. This might be
interpreted as a traditional difference between boys and girls: while most of the
Gamers in our sample are boys, most Networkers are girls. Interestingly enough,
Gamers have less negative opinions about networking than Networkers have about
gaming.
3.6. Producers
Producers form a cluster with very active users of many kinds of interactive media.
Most Producers can be found in secondary education, and of all clusters they are on
average most active with uploading photos, maintaining weblogs and downloading
music and films. An interesting result from our data is the intensive use by
Producers of non-producer applications, especially social software as found in the
'interchanging' cluster. Producers combine this with stronger opinions about these
media than other user clusters. Producers come close to descriptions of the Net
generation by engaging in a wide range of content consuming and producing
activities.
4. Discussion
In this paper we investigated the existence of patterns in young people's use of
interactive media. Our results show a diversity of user patterns rather than a
homogeneous use of interactive media. We found groups of young people who
reported making intensive use of interactive media. This intensity goes together with
diversity in kinds of media and in opinions about specific media activities.
We distinguished four clusters of interactive media activities and labeled
them following current literature: browsing, performing, interchanging and
authoring. These four clusters form one dimension of activities ranging from
consumption (browsing) to production (authoring). Furthermore, we distinguished
four clusters of interactive media users. We hypothesized these user clusters as
different subcultures (Van den Beemt, Akkerman, & Simons, 2007) and labeled them
respectively as 'Traditionalists', 'Gamers', ‘Networkers’ and ‘Producers’. Each user
cluster relates to a specific activity cluster: Traditionalists to browsing, Gamers to
performing, Networkers to interchanging and Producers to authoring. However,
most cluster members engage in other activities as well (see Fig. 1). These user
clusters form a second dimension ranging from consumption (Traditionalists) to
producing (Producers). In short, Traditionalists only make use of the basic
functionalities of interactive media, that we labeled as 'browsing'; Gamers appear to
be content-driven participants, prefer playing together and enjoy the production and
pretending aspects of games; Networkers appear to be friendship-driven, focused on
communication with peers and combine the use of their profile pages with MSN;
Producers appear to come closest to the Net generation with a diverse and intensive
use of many interactive media for both production and interactive consumption of
content, including media typical for the other user clusters. Producers appear to be
Tra
dit
i
Ga onal
ist
me
s
rs
Ne
tw
ork
Pr
od ers
uc
ers
both content-driven and friendship-driven participants.
browsing
performing
interchanging
authoring
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Figure 1: Associations between clusters of users and clusters of activities.
Because our current sample was not drawn randomly, some results indicate a
need for further research with a larger, more representative group of respondents. For
instance, our results show a high percentage of Gamers among higher education
students. This could be explained by the large number of males among the higher
education respondents. The same applies to the large percentage of networking girls
70 ! Chapter 3
on secondary education level. Both results appear to be a gender issue caused by the
sample characteristics, rather than an effect explained by educational level.
Educational level and gender appeared to significantly influence the respondents'
opinions about specific media. This suggests a need for multilevel analysis with a
larger sample in order to explain these macro level interactions.
The intensive use of and diversity in kinds of interactive media confirm the
findings of the small number of studies available on young people's use of
interactive media. The data in our sample show that we cannot speak of a generation
whose members use all media, all in the same way. Some media, such as MSN or
Hyves are widely used, but with different levels of intensity and having different
meaning to the users. This diversity implies caution in drawing conclusions about
interactive media and young people, especially when interactive media and
education are concerned. The small percentage of Producers among the respondents
indicates that, although most of today's youngsters engage in traditional activities,
not all of them are active with interactive media production. By result it is not selfevident that all students' learning improves by using convergence media such as
videosite You tube, photosite Flickr or social networking space Facebook.
The results of this study can be seen as indicators for contemporary youth
culture. By describing a classification of both activities and users, we added two
dimensions to the net generation debate. These two dimensions allow us to describe
the use of interactive media by young people in a nuanced way. Given the intensity
of interactive media use and the expressed opinions, these media form an important
part of young people's social space and cultural space (Van den Beemt, Akkerman, &
Simons, 2007). Where the net generation debate often focuses on the use of
interactive media, or rather young people's social space, we emphasize the
importance of investigating this in relation to young people's cultural space. By
investigating opinions about interactive media, we have taken a first step in
describing this cultural space.
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74 ! Chapter 3
CHAPTER FOUR
Patterns of interactive media use among
contemporary youth1
!
Abstract
The intensive use of interactive media has led to assertions about the effect of these media on
youth. Rather than following the assumption of a distinct net generation, this study
investigates diversity in interactive media use among youth. Results from a pilot study show
that contemporary youth can be divided into clusters based on the use of interactive media.
These results call for a better understanding of these clusters and the characteristics of their
members. The research question for this paper was: Can patterns be found in the interactive
media activities and opinions of young people? We answer this question by a survey among
2138 Dutch students aged 9 to 23 in education levels ranging from primary to higher
professional education. Four categories of interactive media activities were discerned using
confirmatory factor analysis: interacting, performing, interchanging, and authoring. Four
clusters of interactive media users, namely Traditionalists, Gamers, Networkers, and
Producers were identified using cluster analysis. Behind these straightforward categories,
complex patterns of user activities and opinions can be found. The implication is that
education should be cautious in applying these media as learning tools, because
contemporary students show diversity in the kinds of interactive media they prefer using.
1
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (2010). Patterns of interactive media use
among contemporary youth. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, DOI: 10.1111/j.13652729.2010.00384.x
76 ! Chapter 4
1. Introduction
The suggested arrival of a new generation of learners is glossed under terms such as
‘Net generation’ (Tapscott, 1998), ‘Millenials’ (Howe & Strauss, 2000), ‘Digital
natives’ (Prensky, 2006) or ‘Web generation’ (Hartmann, 2003). Influenced by this
suggestion, participants in the net Generation debate often approach contemporary
youth as a homogeneous group that uses interactive media, consisting of games and
Internet applications, with great intensity and skill (Bennett, Maton, & Kervin, 2008).
However, recent empirical research contradicts these assumptions of homogeneity
and skills.
A growing number of empirical studies show that young people have
intermediate rather than high information and communication (ICT) skills
(Cameron, 2005; Margaryan & Littlejohn, 2008), that their internet use is
characterized by "relatively mundane forms of communication and information
retrieval" rather than "spectacular forms of innovation and creativity" (Buckingham,
2008, p. 14), and although they use interactive media intensively (Schulmeister, 2008;
Duimel & De Haan, 2007), there is a diversity in kinds of media being used (Ito, et
al., 2008; Jones, Ramanau, Cross, & Healing, 2009; Kennedy, Judd, Churchward,
Gray, & Krause, 2008; Kutteroff & Behrens, 2008). Because these results do not point
in the direction of a Net generation as one skilful and homogeneous group, the
assumptions underlying the net Generation debate should be seriously questioned.
Often, the net Generation debate is motivated by a concern about the
relationship between young people, interactive media and education (cf. Oblinger &
Oblinger, 2005; Shaffer & Gee, 2005). The debate is valuable for education as it
provides a framework to pose questions regarding the application of interactive
media in organizing and stimulating education. Replacing the assumption of a
homogeneous generation with empirical data that shows diversity makes the debate
even more valuable.
1.1 Associations between activities
The empirical research on young people's use of interactive media often begins with
a top-down approach of pre-defined classes of applications, such as 'information
retrieval', 'social networking', 'online gaming' or 'downloading' (Kutteroff & Behrens,
2008; Duimel & De Haan, 2007; Livingstone & Bober, 2005). Despite the usefulness of
such classifications, the relationship between applications remains unclear.
Patterns of interactive media use among contemporary youth ! 77
Investigating this relationship is valuable, since youth culture studies show that
young people use combinations of available content and media to show others what
they think is important (Weber & Mitchell, 2008). Profile pages for instance, often
show images of their owners merged with photographs of popstars or sportsmen.
Forums,
such
as
Gamerankings
(http://www.gamerankings.com)
provide
walkthroughs and cheat codes used by gamers while playing. We believe that these
kinds of combinations can best be studied with a bottom-up approach, by asking
respondents about their use of separate applications. Subsequently, possible
combinations of interactive media activities can be discovered with statistical
analysis. Furthermore, it is valuable to investigate how these combinations of
activities inform the grouping of users. This grouping of users should not be seen as
a fixed categorization to replace the homogeneous view, but rather as a nuanced
addition to the debate around youth, interactive media and learning. Diversity in
combinations of interactive media activities and of users indicates a multitude of
functions these media have in people’s lives. Understanding these functions
therefore asks for studying the relationship between types of interactive media
activities and types of interactive media users.
1.2 Functions of interactive media use.
From a sociological perspective, there is also reason to believe that diversity in
interactive media use among youth can be found. After all, contemporary late
modern society knows less guiding social structures than before (Van den Brink,
2007). In earlier times, the local community and a person's social background
provided social structure. Today, people have to actively develop frames of
reference (Giddens, 1993). This change in social guidance affects a person's patterns
of behaviour and resulting social relations, also known as social space (Bourdieu,
1984). It is by and through this social space, that people develop patterns of values,
beliefs and opinions, also known as cultural space (Elchardus & Glorieux, 2002). Both
social and cultural spaces in contemporary late modern society are influenced by
globalization, which results in young people trying to give meaning to everyday life
outside the traditional structures (see Van den Beemt et al., 2010b for a more
extensive discussion). Today, with easy accessible information and communication
resources, young people appear to organize themselves reflexively in informal
(online) communities called affinity spaces (Gee, 2004). The intensive use of
78 ! Chapter 4
interactive media among contemporary youth indicates an important function for
these media in shaping both social and cultural space.
In sum, the combination of activities is of importance for understanding the
functions of interactive media in shaping both social space - the social function of
interactive media- as well as cultural space - the cultural function of interactive
media. This means that we should not look for frequencies of use as if media are
ends in themselves, but for patterns in interactive media use that hint at the goals
they are meant to facilitate. Does online gaming go together with information
retrieval or social networking? Can a convergence of media activities be found, or is
there a divergence into separated user groups? By studying the social and cultural
functions of interactive media through patterns of use, we expect that a classification
of activities as well as a classification of users will appear from the results.
Considering both the class of grouped activities and the class of grouped
users is important for education, because these classes specify diversity in interactive
media use among youth. For instance, if our results would show that most students
appear to be networkers with a negative attitude towards gaming, educators could
consider using social software instead of games as an educational tool. 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 & DirckinckHolmfeld, 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.
1.3 Previous research.
In earlier research (Van den Beemt et al., 2010a), we studied the interactive media
behaviour of a group of students in the Netherlands (N = 178, aged 10 to 25). This
study showed our participants using interactive media intensively, but not in a
unified way. Rather, the results showed diversity in behaviour, which can be
expressed in user patterns. Furthermore, the results showed a relation between
interactive media use and educational level and between use and gender. Because
this study was limited to 178 respondents with an unequal division of educational
level and gender, the results suggested a need for further research with a larger
sample. This paper presents the results of this larger study and it aims at describing
patterns in the interactive media behaviour among youth and their opinions about
these media.
1.4 Research question
In order to investigate interactive media use and opinions, we formulated the
following question: Can patterns be found in the interactive media activities and opinions
of young people? This question will be answered in three steps. First, we will analyse
the use of interactive media. Second, the relation between gender and educational
level and user activities will be examined. This is of importance because, in line with
earlier research (Duimel & De Haan, 2007; Kutteroff & Behrens, 2008), our pilot
study revealed differences in interactive media use between boys and girls and
between a number of educational levels (Van den Beemt et al., 2010a). Furthermore,
the range of levels in the Dutch educational system (Eurydice, 2009), where each
level is distinctively characterized by both method and culture, suggests this
attention. Third, we will analyse the relation between young people's opinions about
interactive media and interactive media activities.
The results of this study are important for education and educational research
alike, because it provides insight into the use and meaning of interactive media
among youth. It adds to more nuances in the net generation debate and
consequently contributes to making well-considered choices for using interactive
media as learning tools. With the insights from this study, educators can decide for
which students interactive media, such as games and social software, are useful
learning tools, instead of applying these media uncritically based on preassumptions of homogeneity and skilfulness.
2. Method
2.1. Participants
The study sample consisted of 2138 Dutch students, in educational levels ranging
from primary education to higher professional education (see Table 1 for an
overview of participants). For comprehension outside of the Dutch context, four
aggregated educational levels were used in our analyses: primary education,
80 ! Chapter 4
vocational level, preparatory higher education and higher professional education
(see also Eurydice, 2009 and Table 1). The survey was conducted at twenty-four
schools in six different regions of the Netherlands.
Table 1: Participants
Education Level (Dutch abbreviation)
Primary education
Age (M)
Number of
participants
Male
Female
9-13 (11)
640
321
319
Secondary education:
Vocational education (vmbo + vmbo-t + mbo)
Preparatory higher education (havo + vwo)
12-23 (16)
12-18 (15)
496
679
224
327
272
352
Higher professional education
17-23 (20)
323
223
100
2138
1095
1043
Total
vmbo = preparatory secondary vocational education; vmbo-t = preparatory secondary vocational
education, theoretical level; mbo = senior secondary vocational education; havo = senior general
secondary education; vwo = pre-university education (see also Eurydice, 2009)
Participating schools were found through several university networks. The study
sample was not drawn randomly but conveniently sampled: schools participated
voluntarily, often with complete classes of respondents, which were all included in
the analyses. The participating higher education schools have a curriculum focused
on technology. As a consequence these schools have more male students, which
affected the boy-girl ratio in our sample.
2.2. Materials
The online survey consisted of twenty-five questions addressing two main topics:
actual use of interactive media applications and opinions about the use of specific
media. A number of questions consisted of items that each referred to one of all
interactive media used in the Netherlands at the time of inquiry. Fifteen of the
twenty-five original questions were used in the analyses (see Appendix A for the
questionnaire in English).
The social networking spaces Hyves2 (http://www.hyves.nl) and MySpace
(http://www.myspace.com) were included as separate items, while the others were
grouped under 'other than Hyves'. Answer categories followed a Likert scale
ranging from 1 to 5 for both main topics: [never/less than once per month/once per
2
Hyves, a website resembling Facebook, was the most popular social networking site in the
week/several
times
per
week/every
day]
for
activities
and
[totally
disagree/disagree/neutral/agree/totally agree] for opinions. Means of three and
larger indicate respectively a regular use and a positive opinion.
The development of the questionnaire incorporated key characteristics of subcultures and existing media research. The characteristics of sub-cultures included
group behaviour and reported importance of specific media (Brake, 1985). Because
the strongest response was expected for a) a person's identification with a specific
user group and the subsequent negative attitude towards other user groups, and for
b) games and social software, opinions about these topics were asked for, instead of
asking opinions about all cultural characteristics and all interactive media (see also
question 9 in Appendix A). The key characteristics of existing media research
included use of and preferences for specific interactive media (Duimel & De Haan,
2007; see also questions 4 to 6, and 10 to 15 in Appendix A).
The instrument was piloted on an individual basis in paper format with three
primary education students, by means of a 'think-aloud' session (Van Someren,
Barnard, & Sandberg, 1994) for comprehension of the questions and timing. The
think-aloud technique is suggested by Van Someren and colleagues to check
whether items are unambiguously and clearly understood by participants. In this
case, each of the three respondents read the questions out loud for the researcher
and an assistant. The respondents then were asked to explain each question in their
own terms and interpret their answer. The pilot test resulted in minor adjustments in
the wording of questions.
It took participants on average fifteen minutes to complete the questionnaire.
All questionnaires were completed under supervision during school hours. The
respondents remained anonymous, but were supplied with individual codes. These
codes made analysis of, for instance, educational level and region possible. The
survey’s language was Dutch.
2.3. Procedure
All respondents received textual instructions to explain the survey's purpose, that it
would not be graded, and therefore that any answer would be right. Furthermore,
the students were asked to fill in the survey at their own comfortable speed. Most
schools arranged for each class to fill in the survey in a computer laboratory with
Internet access. The survey was held between October 2008 and February 2009.
82 ! Chapter 4
2.4. Analytic strategy
The statistical analyses were performed in several steps. First, outliers were
identified by means of boxplots for all interactive media items, and they were
subsequently filtered from the sample. The existence of categories of media activities
was explored by means of factor analyses based on the activity items from the
questionnaire. This EFA (Exploratory Factor Analysis) was employed on a randomly
selected training sample of two-thirds of our complete sample. This analysis was
performed by means of Principal Component Analysis with Varimax rotation.
Because we are working in a fresh field where the number and nature of the factors
is unknown, Kline (2005) argues that EFA results should be replicated. Mulaik (1987,
as cited in Kline, 2008) even suggested that every EFA should be completed by a
confirmatory analysis. Consequently, to verify the validity of the resulting model,
CFA (Confirmatory Factor Analysis) was applied by means of the Maximum
Likelihood method in a test sample consisting of the remaining one-third of our
sample (Kline 2005). The model was tested with Amos 16 (Arbuckle, 2007). The
evaluation of model adequacy was based on Comparative Fit Index (CFI), TuckerLewis Index (TLI), Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) and Root
Mean Square Residual (RMSR).
In order to explore a pattern of related interactive media users, cluster
analysis on the cases was applied. Because there was no a priori classification
scheme, hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis was applied instead of
discriminant or assignment methods (Everitt, 1995). In order to minimize the
variance within clusters, Ward’s method was applied with squared Euclidean
distance (Aldenderfer & Blashfield, 1984). However, because this measure is affected
by variables with large size or dispersion differences, z-scores were applied as well
(see also Milligan & Cooper, 1988). Because both the robust factor analysis and the
exploratory cluster analysis result in categories that have significant differences in
means, there was no need for additional variance analyses.
Respondents came from in total seven levels of education, which describes
the full spectrum of school levels for the considered age range in the Netherlands
(Eurydice, 2009). In order to allow for international comparison of the results, five
levels were coupled into two new educational levels (see Tables 1 and 6).
Chi-square tests of independence were performed to examine the relation
between the categories of users and gender and educational level respectively.
Categories of opinions were explored with factor analysis on items, applying
Principal Component analysis with Varimax rotation. As a result of a very low
average use combined with low sample means, the following activities were left out
of our analysis: Second Life, Skype, Uploading a Podcast and Downloading a
Podcast.
3. Results
Our data show diversity in the use of interactive media applications ranging from
social software, to games or video-websites, such as YouTube. All respondents
reported making use of at least one application once per week or more. This means
that there are no non-users in our sample.
3.1 Diversity in interactive media use and users
Factor analysis applied on the interactive media items suggested a four-component
solution. These four components are an indication of diversity in interactive media
use by showing applications that are often used together (see Table 2 for the factor
analysis results). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the items of each of the four
components was at least .70, suggesting a quite acceptable internal reliability
(Nunnally, 1978). In order to report a model in which each item loaded on one factor
only, a cutoff for size of 0.40 was applied (see also Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007).
Goodness-of-fit indices indicated that there was a minimally acceptable fit between
the four-component model and the data (!2 = 1266.0, df = 333; TLI = 0.86, CFI = 0.88,
RMSEA = 0.06, SRMR = 0.05). These results are an indication of extreme scores in
our sample, despite the filtering of outliers. Because of the applied cutoff for size, the
following items from the questionnaire were removed from the model: downloading
podcasts, uploading videos, maintaining a wiki, Google Docs, Google Earth, Habbo
hotel, making music on a pc, and using Myspace.
We labelled each of the four components based on its core activity. One
component can be called friendship driven (Ito et al., 2008), and consists of a variety
of social networking activities. We labelled this category 'interchanging'. A second
component consists of e-mail, surfing the web, searching for information, MSN and
watching videos. Because these are traditional, more basic interactive media
activities, focused on the non-linear consumption of information and production of
texts, we labelled them 'interacting'. A third component, consisting of gaming
84 ! Chapter 4
activities, is a form of interest driven participation (Ito et al., 2008) where users play
a certain role on a virtual stage. We labelled this category 'performing'. The last
component consists of activities that comprise some form of interactive content
production. Jenkins (2006) argues that this kind of content production requires
content consumption. Before a person can 'remix' a photograph of a popstar with
one of himself, he needs to search for, look at, and download content, for instance
from weblogs of photo-albums made by others. Because users engaged in these
activities are authors of interactive media content, we labelled this category
'authoring'.
The four categories found by factor analysis, do not describe the respondent's
membership of specific categories. Therefore, cluster analysis was applied to explore
the relation between categories of activities and individual respondents. This
resulted in four clusters describing types of media users. Different cluster solutions
did not result in comprehensive groupings of media users in relation to the factor
analysis results. In order to label the clusters, the mean scores of each cluster for both
activity items (e.g. MSN or maintaing a Hyves page) and the four activity categories
were compared. 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 and Networkers in social software grouped under 'interchanging'.
Finally, Producers create content, in a 'patchworking' manner (cf. Ryberg &
Dirckinck-Holmfeld, 2008), by means of for instance weblog-templates or predefined photo-albums. These often standardized objects enable activities grouped
under 'authoring'.
The four user clusters and four activity categories were compared for
differences between their mean scores to describe the relation between membership
of a certain user group and types of activities people participate in. These mean
scores for each category were computed by adding the scores on individual items
and by dividing the result by the number of items in that category. Members of all
user clusters, apart from the Gamers, appear to participate in interacting activities at
least once per week, however they do so with distinctive intensity. Table 3 shows
that Producers are on average the most intensive engaged in all types of activities.
Table 2: Exploratory factor analysis results with standardized factor loadings for interactive
media activities
Activities
Component
1
interchanging
Leaving a scrap
Looking at Hyves photos
Reading weblog at Hyves
.878
.874
.802
.788
.754
.698
.641
Search
Surfing the web
E-mail
Downloading music
Reading news sites
Downloading films
MSN
Reading Wikipedia
Watching videos
2
interacting
3
performing
.688
.663
.662
.631
.604
.590
.565
.551
.520
Casual online games
Portable games
Console games
Large pc games
Online games
Small pc games
Mobile games
.684
.678
.633
.588
.556
.453
.416
Maintaining weblog other than profile
Uploading photos other than to profile
Reading weblog other than profile
Looking at photos other than profile
Maintaining profile other than Hyves
Placing message on forum
Cronbach's alpha
4
authoring
.91
.693
.679
.671
.661
.592
.402
.82
.70
.72
Principal Component Analysis, Varimax rotatiom with Kaiser Normalization.
In addition to authoring, Producers on average engage in all other types of activities
at least once per week. Traditionalists, Gamers and Networkers are on average
rarely active in authoring. Traditionalists on average are active only in interacting at
least once per week. Of all types of activities, Gamers are most active in performing,
however, this is on average less than once per week. Networkers on average are
active at least once per week with both interchanging and interacting. Figure 1
represents these results visually by showing a cross-mark for mean-scores above M
= 2.5, which indicates a use of at least once per week.
86 ! Chapter 4
Table 3: Categories of activities, Mean standardised score (and SD) within cluster
Activities
Cluster
Traditionalist
N=588
Gamer
N=360
Networker
N=841
Producer
N=136
interacting
3.02
(0.66)
1.94
(0.51)
3.60
(0.64)
3.82
(0.60)
performing
1.92
(0.67)
2.45
(0.69)
2.26
(0.84)
2.54
(1.02)
interchanging
1.99
(0.80)
1.41
(0.59)
3.21
(0.89)
3.85
(0.81)
authoring
1.22
(0.29)
1.15
(0.27)
1.73
(0.54)
3.13
(0.71)
Our goodness-of-fit results showed differences between the training sample
and the test sample. This indicates extreme scores on some activities for a number of
respondents, which influenced the factor analyses (see also Kline, 2005). To give an
impression of the influence of extreme scores, the outliers identified in the factor
analysis were placed in user categories by means of cluster analysis. Table 4 shows
the means for types of activities of these outliers when they would be placed in user
clusters. Although on selected activities the outliers in Table 4 show a higher
intensity of use, the pattern of mean scores resembles the pattern in Table 3. These
results indicate that a number of respondents choose to use specific applications and
refrain from others (cf. Eynon, 2010).
Table 4: Outliers in categories of activities, Mean standardised score (and SD) within cluster
Activities
Cluster
Traditionalist
N=10
Gamer
N=5
Networker
N=23
Producer
N=5
interacting
3.44
(0.75)
2.04
(0.88)
3.35
(0.65)
3.62
(0.54)
performing
2.27
(1.13)
2.46
(1.53)
2.09
(0.87)
2.20
(0.86)
interchanging
1.57
(0.75)
1.71
(0.82)
3.71
(0.83)
4.63
(0.47)
authoring
1.32
(0.49)
1.27
(0.30)
2.01
(0.90)
4.13
(0.59)
3.2 Cluster membership, gender and levels of education.
Following the gender issue in the net generation debate, we analyzed the division of
user clusters among boys and girls. A chi-square test of independence showed that
the relation between user clusters and gender was non-significant, !2(3, N =1925) =
2.86, p = ns. Boys and girls were likely to be member of the same user clusters. In line
with these results, Table 5 shows an almost equal gender division within all user
clusters. Especially the results for Gamers and Networkers are in contrast with
traditional ideas that boys play games and girls engage more in peer-to-peer
communication.
It is noteworthy to look at cluster membership and educational level, because
these levels, and therefore the age groupings as well, are not equally spread among
our sample (see Table 1). A chi-square test of independence showed that the relation
between user clusters and educational level was significant, !2(9, N = 1925) = 644.47,
p < .01. The standardized residuals of the chi-square test are reported in Table 6.
Table 5: gender - percentage of cluster membership
Gender
Cluster
Traditionalist
Gamer
Networker
Producer
Boys
Girls
51.7
48.3
53.6
46.4
50.3
49.7
45.6
54.4
Total
100
100
100
100
Table 6: Cluster membership - percentage of education level and gender
Education level
PE
VE
Cluster
PHE
HPE
Gender
Boys
Girls
Traditionalist
% within Ed. level 16.7
St. Residual
-6.0
33.8
1.2
41.6
5.0
29.3
-0.4
31.0
30.1
Gamer
St. Residual
18.6
4.5
-6.8
6.4
-7.1
0.7
-7.3
19.7
17.7
Networker
St. Residual
-6.8
52.0
2.6
46.5
1.1
61.8
4.8
43.1
44.3
Producer
St. Residual
-0.8
9.7
2.0
5.6
-1.4
8.2
0.8
6.3
7.8
Total % within
100
100
100
100
100
100
PE = Primary education, VE = Vocational education (vmbo + vmbo-t + mbo), PHE = Preparatory
higher education, HPE = Higher professional education.
!2 for Gender and Cluster membership non-significant, and for Educational level and Cluster
membership significant (" < 0.01).
Students of different educational levels were likely to be member of different
user clusters. Despite this significant difference, conclusions should be drawn
cautiously, because of the sample's unequal gender division for the higher
88 ! Chapter 4
professional education level. Table 6 shows that the largest percentage of
Traditionalists is found among preparatory higher education students and the
largest percentage of Gamers is found among primary education pupils. Higher
professional education students form the largest group of Networkers, while the
vocational education level students form the largest groups of Producers. The
extremes within the PE-level and the higher professional education level for Gamers
might be subject for further analysis, for instance by looking for macro-level
influences. On average, within all educational levels apart from primary education,
Networkers account for the highest percentages of users. This makes networking the
most important activity among today's young people.
3.3. Diversity in opinions about interactive media
We analyzed the respondents' opinions about specific media, by applying
exploratory factor analysis on the items as shown in Table 7a. The scree plot
suggested a three-component solution (Table 7b). Because of the applied cutoff for
size of .40, the following opinions items were removed from the model: 'Belong to
group', 'Playing outside' and 'TV, not production'. The components contain opinions
about respectively gaming, gaming benefits and networking. The 'gaming' and
'networking'
components
contain
opinions
about
feeling
unhappy
when
respondents cannot use games or social software. The component 'gaming benefits'
Table 7a: Opinions on media activities
Opinion code
1. Gaming together
2. Longer MSN
3. Unhappy no Hyves
4. Unhappy no games
5. Unhappy no MSN
6. Belong to group
7. Longer games
8. Gamers group
12. Like Wii better
13. Pretending
14. Production
16. Experimentation
17. Playing outside
19. Learning
I want to belong to a group
I prefer the Wii to games where you sit still
I like games because they give me the chance to experiment
I prefer playing outside to gaming
I prefer television because you don't have to do anything
I enjoy games that learn me something new
Answers on 5 point Likert scale; 1 = completely disagree, 5 = completely agree
Table 7b: Exploratory factor analysis results with standardized factor loadings for opinions on
interactive media activities
Opinion
Component
1 Gaming
7. Longer games
8. Gamers group
1. Gaming together
4. Unhappy no games
.923
.923
.535
.529
.520
.424
14. Production
16. Experimentation
13. Pretending
15. Join gaming frnds
19. Learning
2 Gaming benefits
3 Networking
.761
.741
.673
.595
.492
5. Unhappy no MSN
3. Unhappy no Hyves
2. Longer MSN
Cronbach's alpha
.811
.768
.628
.409
.82
.76
.60
Table 7c: Means (and standard deviation) for opinions on media activities
Opinion
Cluster
Traditionalist
Gamer
Networker
Producer
Gaming
Gaming benefits
Networking
2.04
2.50
2.22
2.16
2.75
1.66
2.21
2.70
2.70
2.34
2.80
3.09
(0.92)
(0.92)
(0.79)
(0.89)
(0.91)
(0.62)
(0.97)
(0.97)
(0.62)
(1.08)
(1.02)
(0.94)
consists of preferring games because they give the opportunity to pretend, produce,
experiment and learn. Mean scores of 3 and higher indicate a positive attitude
towards each opinion. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the items in the opinion
components was at least .60, which suggests an acceptable internal reliability
(Nunnally, 1978).
Membership of a certain user group shows less distinct relations with types of
opinions compared to types of activities. Mean scores for the three types of opinions
are for all user clusters below three, indicating a neutral or negative stance. The only
exceptions are the negative score of Gamers on opinions about networking, and a
slightly positive score of Producers on the same opinions.
Tra
dit
i
Ga onal
i st
me
s
rs
Ne
tw
ork
Pr
od ers
uc
ers
90 ! Chapter 4
interacting
performing
interchanging
authoring
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Figure 1: Relations between categories of activities and categories of users
4. Conclusion
In this paper we investigated the existence of patterns in young people's use of
interactive media. Our results showed a diversity of user patterns rather than a
homogeneous use of interactive media. We found groups of young people who
reported making intensive use of interactive media. This intensity goes together with
diversity in kinds of media and in opinions about specific media activities.
Given the findings, we discerned four categories of interactive media
activities and labelled them following current literature: interacting, performing,
interchanging and authoring. Based on our data we also discerned four clusters of
interactive media users, which we labelled as 'Traditionalists', 'Gamers',
'Networkers' and 'Producers'. Each user cluster relates to a specific activity category:
Traditionalists to interacting, Gamers to performing, Networkers to interchanging
and Producers to authoring. However, in addition to this one-to-one mapping of
categories, there appear to be other specific activity-user combinations as well (see
also Figure 1). Taken together our results show that Traditionalists form a group of
relatively low-end technology users that mainly engages in interacting. The
relatively small group of high-end technology users, labelled Producers, engages
intensively in all types of activities, especially authoring. Furthermore, two groups
of intermediate technology users are defined by mid level technology use. One
group, the Gamers, skews on performing, and the other, the Networkers, skews on
interchanging. All groups are significantly different from each other on the four
types of activities. Furthermore, these user groups are discriminated by different
patterns of use across the types of activities, although all, apart from the Gamers, are
relatively intensive users of the more traditional interactive media. Finally,
Producers are the only regular users of applications grouped under 'authoring'.
The types of activities together with the clusters of users contribute to a better
understanding of the importance of interactive media in the shaping of young
people's patterns of behaviour and social relations, known as social space, (Bourdieu,
1984) and their patterns of values, beliefs and opinions, known as cultural space
(Elchardus & glorieux, 2002). The patterns of interactive media use indicate the
motives for using these media. These motives, operationalized as the social and
cultural functions of interactive media, are important for the development of
education for contemporary students that takes into account the diversity among
these students.
5. Discussion
The results of this study confirm existing research. We found intensity and diversity
in interactive media use, which confirms the findings of a growing number of
studies available on young people's use of interactive media. While some large-scale
surveys on youth and ICT (Duimel & De Haan, 2007; Kutteroff & Behrens, 2008) give
a good overview of interactive media use, our analyses add insights on the division
of interactive media users by describing groups of activities and of users.
Furthermore, results of our analyses indicated that a large number of respondents
choose to use specific applications and refrain from others (cf. Eynon, 2010). A
number of surveys among university students with a focus on ICT skills in relation
to learning (Cameron, 2005; Margaryan & Littlejohn, 2008; Jones, et al., 2009;
Kerawalla, Minocha, Kirkup, & Conole, 2009; Ryberg & Dirckinck-Holmfeld, 2008)
support the inclination of a differentiation based on user patterns. None of these
studies found evidence to support the claims regarding students adopting radically
different patterns of knowledge creation and sharing, as suggested by some
previous studies. Our results endorse these findings, not only for higher education,
but for a wide range of educational levels as well. The patterns we found in both use
of and opinions about interactive media show that young people give meaning to
interactive media in diverging ways instead of as a homogeneous group. A number
of small-scale qualitative studies testify to this result by explaining that interactive
media are used in diverse ways for organizing and directing youth's cognitive, social
92 ! Chapter 4
and emotional life (Kelly, Pomerantz & Currie, 2006; Baki, Leng, Ali, Mahmud &
Gani, 2008).
Our dataset is characterized by respondents who make intensive use of a
limited number of applications, which causes outliers and skewness. However, a
comparison of our results with those of other studies indicates that the methods
applied only result in differences in detail (see also Eynon, 2010; Van den Beemt et al.,
2010a). The main results of all studies show resembling differences in interactive
media activities.
Because of small factor loadings, we had to remove a number of the newer
types of interactive media from our model. The removal of these activities is in line
with results from other studies that show young people's 'mundane' use of interactive
media (Buckingham, 2008).
Furthermore, because our current sample was not drawn randomly, some
results indicate a need for further research with supplementary analyses. For instance,
our results show a relatively large percentage of Gamers on primary education level
(52.5%), which is strange given the complexity of many games. However, many ICTbased exercises are disguised under a playful interface that can be perceived as
'games' by primary education students.
The diversity in interactive media use combined with the characteristic
aspects of our dataset, imply caution in drawing conclusions about the educational
consequences in using these media. The small percentage of Producers among the
respondents together with the low means for authoring of the other user groups,
indicate that not all of today's youth are active in interactive media production as
described in the Net generation literature. Furthermore, our respondents did not
express preferences for games or social software in a unified way. Thus, these results
ask for a made to measure application of interactive media as learning tools. We
consider the potential of this application as an important aspect of future analysis.
Further research is required to study specific characteristics of the user
clusters, notably the Networkers, Gamers and Producers. The large number of
Networkers among students of all educational levels makes it interesting to
investigate the transfer of networking capabilities to other domains in education,
such as groupwork or peer-reviews. The cluster of Gamers forms a small percentage
of our respondents (18%) and shows an almost equal gender division. However, it is
important to note that approximately half of our respondents report to play games at
least once per week. The cluster analyses results showed a homogeneous result for
the cluster of Gamers. Despite this result, from a theoretical perspective a further
division into casual games and large pc- or console-games seems needed. This
makes it interesting for further research to look at differences in kinds of gameplay
between boys and girls. Furthermore, while our results show that Producers form
less than ten percent of our respondents, the Net Generation debate generally
approaches all of contemporary youth as skilled creators of media content. Although
the cluster of Producers is relatively small, it is worthwhile to conduct further
research on this group, investigating for example their possession of interactive
media hardware, ICT-skills or number of 'friends' made with social software or in
online communities. Finally, future research could nuance the user patterns even
further by applying a distinction between interactive media use for school
assignments and as leisure activity.
Because of the intensive interactive media use, the research investments and
the ongoing debate, we know that interactive media are an important consideration
for education. Future work should strive to a better understanding of the patterns of
interactive media use. Are these patterns nothing more than a description of user
groups, or are they a reflection of subcultures characterized by distinctive motives
for interactive media use? Do members of each user cluster share manners of using
interactive media for reflexively defining their affinity spaces, as such influencing
their social space and cultural space (Van den Beemt et al., 2010b)?
Answers to these questions can be reached by qualitative research, when
respondents explain in their own words their preferred ways of participation and
the social and cultural functions of interactive media. The clusters found in this
study can serve as a framework to this purpose.
94 ! Chapter 4
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98 ! Chapter 4
Appendix A: Questionnaire
This example questionnaire was used at the preparatory higher education level. The
answer categories for questions 1 and 3 were adapted for each educational level.
Only items that were used in the analyses are presented here. The questionnaire's
typesetting and lay-out differed from below.
1. What is your age?
Please tick one option:
Answer: 12 years, 13 years, 14 years, 15 years, 16 years, 17 years, 18 years
2. Are you a boy or a girl?
Answer: Boy, Girl
3. What class are you in?
Answer: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
4. How often are you busy with any of the following activities:
Please tick one option per row:
Answer: Never; Less than 1 time per week; 1 time per week; several times per week;
every day
Activities:
- Searching for something on the Internet
- Using e-mail
- MSN
- Skype
- Large pc games (e.g. The Sims or Age of Empires)
- Small pc games (e.g. Minesweeper or Cards)
- Online games (e.g. World of Warcraft or Runescape)
- Games on game-sites (e.g. spelen.nl)
- Surfing for fun
- Maintaining Hyves
- Maintaining a different profile page
- Reading the profile page of someone else
- Leaving a scrap at the Hyves page of someone else
- Watching videos online
- Uploading videos to YouTube
- Uploading photos to your profile page
- Uploading photos somewhere else online (e.g. Flickr)
- Looking at photos on a profile page
- Looking at photoalbums somewhere else online (e.g. Flickr)
- Placing messages on a forum
- Maintaining a weblog on your profile page
- Maintaining a weblog somewhere else
- Reading weblogs on a profile page
- Reading weblogs somewhere else
- Second Life
- Habbo Hotel
- Google Earth
- Google Docs
- Reading something at Wikipedia
- Maintaining a wiki
- Reading Myspace pages
- Maintaining your Myspace page
- Making a podcast
- Downloading a podcast
- Making music on a pc
- Downloading music
- Downloading movies
- Reading news websites
- Playing games on a portable console (e.g. PSP or Nintendo DS)
- Playing games on a console (e.g. Playstation, XBox of Wii)
- Playing games on your mobile phone
5. How many friends are on your MSN-list?
Answer: 0 to 10; 11 to 25; 25 to 50; 50 to 100; More than 100
6. With how many of these friends do you chat on a regular basis?
Answer: 0 to 10; 11 to 25; 25 to 50; 50 to 100; More than 100
7. At your room, do you have a ...
Answer: No; Yes
Device:
- Pc
- Internet connection
- Game console (e.g. Playstation, XBox of Wii)
8. How many of the following devices do you have at home:
Answer: None; 1; 2; 3; more than 3
Device:
- Pc
- Laptop
- Playstation 3
- Xbox 360
- Wii
- A different console (e.g. Playstation 2, Gamecube or N64)
- Portable game console (e.g. Nintendo DS, Gameboy or PSP)
9. Do you agree with any of the following statements:
Answer: Completely disagree; Disagree; Neither disagree, nor agree; Agree;
Completely agree
100 ! Chapter 4
Statements:
- I like playing games with others
- Sometimes I stay longer on MSN than I want to
- I feel unhappy when I can't go on Hyves
- I feel unhappy when I can't play games
- I feel unhappy when I can't go on MSN
- I want to belong to a group
- Sometimes I play games longer than I want to
- Because I play games, I belong to a special group
- I have many non-gaming friends
- It is important to be good at games
- Children who play games are more fun than others
- I prefer the Wii to games where you sit still
- I like games because you can pretend things
- I like internet and games because you can produce things
- When friends play a game, I want to play that game as well
- I like games because they give me the chance to experiment
- I prefer playing outside / hanging around outside to gaming
- I prefer television because you don't have to do anything
- I enjoy games that learn me something new
10. How important are the following activities for contacting friends:
Answer: Very unimportant; unimportant; neither unimportant, nor important;
important; Very important
Activities:
- MSN of Skype
- Hyves (or any other profile site)
- Second Life
- Habbo Hotel
- Mobile phone
- Texting
- E-mail
- A letter via mail
- Using a regular telephone
- Seeing in person
11. How important are the following activities to show other people what you like:
Activities:
- MSN of Skype
- Second Life
- Habbo Hotel
- Weblog
- YouTube
- Flickr
- Responses on a forum
- Google Earth
- MySpace
- Games
12. How important are the following activities to find out about what other people
like:
Activities:
- MSN of Skype
- Second Life
- Habbo Hotel
- Weblog
- YouTube
- Flickr
- Responses on a forum
- Google Earth
- MySpace
13. What do you use the most for ....
Answer: MSN; Skype; Regular phone; Mobile phone; Texting; e-mail; Scrap (at
Hyves); Seeing in person; I never do such thing
Activities:
- Short conversation or chit-chat
- Serious conversation
- Private conversation
- Bullying someone
- Congratulating someone
- Giving a message to your parents
- Making an appointment with friends
- Keep in touch with friends that you rarely see
- Talking about homework or other school things
- Writing something you do not dare to say in person
- Breaking up with someone
- Asking someone to go out with you
14. Are there any rules at home for playing games or using the Internet?
Answer: No; Yes.
15. Do your parents explain about the use of Internet, for instance security or sharing
things?
Answer: No; Yes.
102 ! Chapter 4
CHAPTER FIVE
Student characteristics contributing to
interactive media use1
!
Abstract
This study examines the determinants of young people's interactive media use at three levels:
student level, classroom level, and school level. With this approach the study aims to
understand the diversity of interactive media practices found in earlier studies. We expected
that several factors - including gender, educational level, peers in class and preferences for
specific media - would contribute to the intensity of interactive media activities. The sample
consisted of 2138 students aged 9-to-23 in education levels ranging from primary education
to higher professional education. Multilevel modelling showed that intensity in types of
interactive media activities varies as a function of gender, parental guidance, hardware
posession and preferences for specific media. An effect of educational level could not be found.
The implication is that education should be cautious in applying interactive media as
learning tools, because contemporary students show diversity in the kinds of interactive
media they prefer using.
1
This chapter has been submitted in adapted form as:
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., Den Brok, P., & Simons, P.R.J. (under revision). Student
characteristics contributing to interactive media use.
104 ! Chapter 5
1. Introduction
1.1 Interactive media in an educational context.
Contemporary youths use interactive media, consisting of games and Internet
applications, intensively and mostly outside school hours (Kutteroff & Behrens,
2008; Schulmeister, 2008). These out-of-school activities, such as playing games with
peers or explaining the use of social software to family members, allow for the
development of expertise, identity and interest (Barron, 2006). Recently, a growing
number of empirical studies show diversity in interactive media use among youths
(Eynon, 2010; Ito et al., 2008; Jones, Ramanau, Cross, & Healing, 2009; Kennedy,
Judd, Churchward, Gray, & Krause, 2008; Kutteroff & Behrens, 2008), thereby
undermining the asserted homogeneity found in earlier publications (Van den
Beemt, Akkerman, & Simons, 2010a).
Young people's intensive interactive media use has started to induce
educators to employ interactive media as learning tools in educational settings (cf.
Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005; cf. Prensky, 2006). However, every medium eligible as a
learning tool in an educational setting requires consideration about the skills and
interests of the students using it. A mismatch between a student's skills and the
applied type of interactive media may create problems leading to decreasing
learning effectiveness (Boucheix & Schneider, 2009; De Jong, Eysink, & Van
Merriënboer, 2010). For instance, because games often require spatial and strategic
reasoning skills it is not self-evident that they are a comfortable learning tool for
everyone. A number of empirical studies have shown that interactive media can be
valuable as learning tools in education (Annetta, 2008, Barab & Dede, 2007;
Dunleavy, Dede, & Mitchell, 2009; Sim & Hew, 2010; Squire & Jan, 2007; Wang et al.,
2006). However, to be valuable it is necessary that the type of tool fits the
educational situation, including the student's domain-knowledge, the educational
level, the teachers’ guidance and the assignment complexity (Ainsworth, 2006; De
Jong et al., 2010; Eysink et al., 2009). In light of these findings, it is important to learn
how to apply the proper type of interactive medium for specific students rather than
strive for a one-size-fits-all solution. To be able do so both interactive media use
itself and the contribution of student characteristics to this use should be analyzed.
In the next section we describe the diversity in interactive media use as found
in a previous study (Van den Beemt, Akkerman, & Simons, 2010c). We then describe
current insights into the role of student characteristics in interactive media use. We
Student characteristics contributing to interactive media use ! 105
also point out some limitations of the current literature, leading us to the research
questions that guide the study reported in this paper.
1.2. Diversity in interactive media use
In a previous study on young people's use of interactive media and their reflections
on these media, we discerned four categories of interactive media activities, each
category
represented
a
specific
type
of
activity:
interacting,
performing,
interchanging and authoring (Van den Beemt, Akkerman, & Simons, 2010c). The
category interacting consists of traditional internet activities, focused on the
consumption and exchange of information, such as e-mail, surfing the web,
searching for information and MSN (see also Table 2a for the scale-items). The
category 'performing', consists of gaming activities where users play a certain role on
a virtual stage. The category 'interchanging' consists of all kinds of social networking
activities. The last category, labelled 'authoring' consists of a larger number of
activities, all of them comprising some form of interactive content production. One
conclusion from our prior research is the expectation that using one certain type of
activity will affect the use of other types of activities. This interrelated nature of
different media use activities should also be taken into account when analyzing the
effects of student, class and school factors on types of interactive media use.
1.3. The role of student characteristics in interactive media use
Recently, work has been carried out on interactive media use and factors affecting its
use. These studies have primarily looked at the role of gender, age, parental
guidance and media preferences in interactive media use.
Studies that examined gender as a factor contributing to interactive media use
show that gender differences are not very pronounced for interactive media use
itself (Hargittai, 2010; Jones et al., 2009; McQuillan & O'Neill, 2009), apart from
games, which boys play twice as often as girls (Duimel & De Haan, 2007; Kutteroff &
Behrens, 2008; Schulmeister, 2008). Gender differences for web activities show that,
despite equal access, men and women show different behaviour. Men are active on
websites with more male-oriented information such as sports or cars, and women
are active on websites that enable peer communication (Wasserman & RichmondAbbott, 2005).
106 ! Chapter 5
When looking at age as a contributing factor, studies reveal that young
people's use of the internet and computers, expressed in both frequency and
intensity of use, increases with age. The amount of internet use by 14 to 19 year-olds
is twice that compared to 9 to 14 year-olds (Schulmeister, 2008; Kutteroff & Behrens,
2008).
Another factor in several previous studies is parental guidance, which was
found to contribute to a decrease in the time spent on the internet by young people
(Duimel & De Haan, 2007; Kirwil, 2009). However, in the context of homework
effort, parental involvement did not contribute to a change in behaviour (Trautwein
& Lüdtke, 2009).
Today's youths show a preference for basic functionalities, such as text
editing, presentation tools or chat applications, especially in relation to learning
activities (Jones et al., 2009; Kennedy et al., 2008). A limited preference was found for
more complex authoring activities, such as making and uploading videos (Kennedy
et al., 2008). Because of the peer influence on interactive media use (Ito et al., 2008) it
is relevant to examine the class level effects for opinions about and preferences for
interactive media. Studies on group assignments, for instance, show that class
characteristics influence the results of these assignments in divergent ways (Kimmel
& Volet, 2009).
Despite providing some insight into the effects of student characteristics on
differences in interactive media use, the empirical studies of these characteristics
have several limitations. First, research seems to focus on unique educational levels,
rather than taking an overall look across education types (primary, secondary,
higher, etc.) (e.g. Jones et al., 2009; Kennedy et al., 2008; Eynon, 2010; Hargittai,
2010). Second, research has previously only focused on one or two background
characteristics affecting interactive media use per study. Third, neither the
interrelated nature of activities themselves nor the preferences for activities have
been elaborately taken into account. Fourth, most (if not all) prior studies did not
take into account the multilevel nature of their data collection method and the
phenomenon of investigation (e.g. Brühwiler & Blatchford, 2010; Den Brok et al.,
2006; Tolmie et al., 2010). Within educational research (as well as in other domains
dealing with multilevel contexts) students and classes can be “conceptualized as a
hierarchical system of individuals and groups, with individuals and groups defined
at separate levels of this hierarchical system” (Maas & Hox, 2002). This means that
the relationships between social and educational characteristics are “nested sources
of variability” (Snijders & Bosker, 1999). While correlations or one-way analyses of
variance can provide useful information, they usually overestimate effects found,
because they assume random sampling (Den Brok, Bergen, Stahl, & Brekelmans,
2004). When classes are sampled as a whole, the data is hierarchical in nature.
Respondents in a class may report more similar activities than expected, such as
types of interactive media use, because they share experiences and find themselves
in similar contexts (Hox, 1995).
1.4 Research questions
Taking into account the four limitations it is important to pursue more profound
analyses of interactive media use and its contributing factors. The present study
aims to contribute to the existing line of research by combining a range of
background factors, preferences and activities into one analysis, with a sample
consisting of several education types. The applied analysis method (hierarchical
analysis of variance) takes into account the setup of the data collection, which leads
to more precise estimations of the effects of different factors on interactive media
use.
Four main research questions will be addressed, with a multilevel framework
as the instrument for data analysis. First, the multilevel nature of the data collection
and context that might affect interactive media use leads to the question: to what
extent do schools, classes and students contribute to differences in intensity of interactive
media use?
In line with prior research on interactive media use that investigates the effect
of student, class or school background characteristics, a second question was
formulated: to what extent do background characteristics of students contribute to the
intensity of interactive media use?
Because prior research suggests that intra-classroom preferences for types of
interactive media activities also contribute to engagement in these activities, a third
question was formulated: to what extent are student preferences for interactive media
associated with the intensity of interactive media use?
Our previous studies (Van den Beemt, Akkerman, & Simons, 2010b, 2010c)
showed a diverse image of students' interactive media use. The results showed that
students often combine their intensive engagement in one type of activity with a
108 ! Chapter 5
more moderate use of one or more other activities. This diversity in combinations of
activities prompted the fourth question: to what extent are the four types of interactive
media activities associated with each other?
Based on the shared contexts and experiences of students within classes and
schools we expect to find meaningful variations in interactive media use across
levels and statistically significant correlations for several background characteristics,
preferences for interactive media use and related activities across classrooms. In this
study, intensity of types of interactive media activities will be viewed as related to
student level, class level and school level variables. The types of activities resulting
from our earlier work, as discussed in the previous section, will be the starting point
for the analyses presented in this paper. This classification of activities was based on
the use of interactive media applications at the time of the data collection2. It is
hoped that the findings with respect to the research questions can be used to apply
interactive media as adaptive scaffolds (Azevedo, 2005) to improve learning effects
and to optimize learning.
2. Method
2.1 Sample and procedure
The study sample consisted of 2138 Dutch students (122 classes from 24 schools
in 6 regions in the Netherlands), in educational levels ranging from primary
education to higher professional education (see Table 1 for an overview of
participants)3.
The study sample was not drawn randomly but conveniently sampled: schools
participated voluntarily, most often with complete classes of respondents, which
were all included in the analyses. The participating higher education institutes have
a curriculum focused on technology, which attracts more male students. As a
consequence the boy-girl ratio in our sample is skewed.
2
It is important to note that applications come and go at a relatively high pace. For instance,
non-scientific sources show that, at the time of data gathering, Hyves was the most popular
social networking site in the Netherlands, while Facebook was hardly used. Almost a year
later, Hyves is still used intensively, however, it appears that many users have switched to
Facebook (Comscore, 2010). Because of this rather short product-life-cycle of applications it
appears better to see what type of media use these applications represent. These types of
media use relate more closely to preferences for types of information and communication.
3
The same data set was used by Author (2009, 2010b); in that study, however, cluster
analysis was used to describe diversity in interactive media use among Dutch youths.
Table 1: Sample characteristics
Percentage (Frequency)
Student
Gender
- Male
- Female
Class
School
51.2 (1095)
48.8 (1043)
Education level
primary education
vocational level
- vmbo
- vmbo-t
- mbo
preparatory higher education level
- havo
- vwo
higher professional education
29.9 ( 640)
23.2 ( 496)
2.2 ( 47)
13.4 ( 287)
7.6 ( 162)
31.8 ( 679)
11.6 ( 249)
20.1 ( 430)
15.1 ( 323)
Denomination of the school
- Christian/Protestant
- Evangelic
- Catholic
- Other
22.7 ( 486)
00.3 ( 7)
31.3 ( 670)
45.6 ( 975)
Location
- City
- Village
75.5 (1615)
24.5 ( 523)
Total
100 (2138)
Respondents (students) were asked to complete an on-line survey. The online
survey consisted of 25 questions addressing actual use of interactive media
applications, opinions about the use of specific media and preferred media for
contacting others (see instrumentation). Each item referred to one of all the
interactive media used in the Netherlands at the time of inquiry (between October
2008 and February 2009). Answer categories followed a 5-point Likert scale ranging
from 'never' (1) to 'every day' (5) for activities and 'totally disagree' (1) to 'totally
agree' (5) for opinions.
3.2 Instrumentation
3.2.1 Background variables (student level variables)
The background variables consisted of questions regarding gender, age and
parental guidance. Furthermore, possession of hardware was measured by 11 items (e.g.
the number of desktop computers or game consoles at home and in the respondent's
own room). Internal consistency for these items was satisfactory, Cronbach's ! =
0.63.
110 ! Chapter 5
3.2.2 Preferences (student level variables)
Opinions about types of interactive media were indicated by the opinion-indicators
importance of gaming, gaming benefits and importance of networking. These three
indicators are the result of factor analysis on 19 items performed earlier (Van den
Beemt, Akkerman, & Simons, 2010b); example items were "I like to play games
together with others" and "I feel unhappy when I cannot be on MSN" (see also Table
2b for scale items).
Preferences for specific interactive media applications were measured by
three constructs: the preference for using an application to contact friends (10 items,
Cronbach's ! = 0.78), the preference for using an application to show others what
you think is interesting (11 items, Cronbach's ! = 0.77) and the preference for using
an application to find out about others (10 items, Cronbach's ! = 0.80).
3.2.3 Other variables
Participants’ level of education was measured as class level variable. For
comprehension outside of the Dutch context, four levels were distinguished:
primary education, vocational level, preparatory higher education and higher
professional education (see also Eurydice, 2009). School level variables measured
were denomination (Christian/Protestant, Evangelic, Catholic and Other) and location
(city or village).
Table 2a: Scales of items for activities
interacting
interchanging
performing
authoring
Maintaining weblog
Uploading photos
Reading weblog
Looking at photos
Maintaining profile
Placing message on
forum
Search
Surfing the web
E-mail
Downloading music
Reading news sites
Downloading films
Leaving a scrap
Looking at Hyves photos
Reading weblog at Hyves
Casual online games
Portable games
Console games
Large PC games
Online games
Small PC games
MSN
Reading Wikipedia
Watching videos
Mobile games
Table 2b Scales of items for opinions
gaming
gaming benefits
networking
Longer games
Gamers group
Important gaming
Gaming together
Unhappy no games
Like gamers better
Production
Experimentation
Pretending
Join gaming friends
Learning
Unhappy no MSN
Unhappy no Hyves
Longer MSN
Non-gaming friends
Opinion code
1. Gaming together
2. Longer MSN
3. Unhappy no Hyves
4. Unhappy no games
5. Unhappy no MSN
7. Longer games
8. Gamers group
9. Non-gaming friends
13. Pretending
14. Production
16. Experimentation
19. Learning
I like games because they give me the chance to experiment
I enjoy games that learn me something new
Answers on 5-point Likert scale: 1 = completely disagree, 5 = completely agree.
3.3 Analysis
The four types of activities (interacting, performing, interchanging and authoring)
found earlier, were taken as dependent variables. Additional cluster analysis on the
items aggregated into performing, showed a meaningful division in hardcore gaming
(PC games, online games, portable console, console games) and casual gaming (small
PC games, game sites, mobile games). Multilevel models were thus constructed
separately for the dependent variables interacting, interchanging, authoring,
hardcore gaming and casual gaming.
Multilevel models consisted of three levels: school, class and student. First, an
empty model was tested to obtain raw percentages of variance at these three levels
(research question 1). Next, background factors on all levels were explored (research
question 2). Variables tested in the model were students’ gender, age, possession of
specific hardware and parental guidance. Gender and parental guidance were
indicated by dummy variables (0 = boy; 0 = no parental guidance), while age was
measured in years. Level of education was measured as class variable with three
dummy variables corresponding to four levels (see Table 1). Primary education was
used as a baseline in the analysis. Also, the school level variables denomination and
location (city/village) were included. This exploration resulted in an optimal
112 ! Chapter 5
background model for all activity clusters containing only statistically significant
background variables. To answer the third research question a model was tested in
which the effect of preferences were included (preference model). Subsequently an
opinions model, which contained all separate opinion items as variables, was tested in
order to add more nuances to the preference model results. Finally, to answer the
fourth research question, the correlations between activity clusters were explored
(activities model). Only variables with significant effects were retained in the analysis.
In order to examine the relationship between variables of the background and
preference models, a total model containing all variables was tested as well.
Effect sizes were computed by means of standardized coefficients (cf. Snijders
& Bosker, 1999) for all models. Results of unexplained variance at student level, class
level and school level, as well as of variance explained by all the significant variables
combined, were computed as percentages of the total variance in the empty model.
Percentages of variance are reported in tables. Furthermore, the model-fit is reported
by means of log-likelihood score. Finally, the mutual improvement of models is
visualized in tables by means of differences in log-likelihood regarding degrees of
freedom.
3. Results
3.1 Descriptive results
With means ranging from 1.56 to 3.12, the empty models indicated that students
engaged in diverse levels of intensity of interactive media use, and that there was
considerable variation across the four types of interactive media (interacting,
interchanging, performing and authoring). As the coefficients of the empty models
showed, our sample was least active, on average, with authoring and most active
with interacting.
3.2 Variance at different levels (research question 1)
Our first question concerned variation in interactive media activities within and
across classrooms and schools. The shared variance of student responses can be
calculated by means of the intra-class correlation coefficient ICC for each of the
dependent variables (Snijders & Bosker, 1999). The higher the ICC the more similar
the intensity of a specific type of interactive media use for students in the same
classes, and the more different this intensity for students in different classes. Results
are presented in Table 3. ICCs for the types of interactive media activities ranged
from .074 for authoring to .421 for interacting.
As can be seen from Tables 4 to 8, the empty models for the types of activities
show that class level variance ranged between 1.2% and 3.5%. After adding
background variables, unexplained variance ranged between 1.4% for authoring and
2.1% for interchanging. After adding preference variables to the empty models
unexplained variance on class level for all activities was below 2.5%. The
combination of background variables and preference variables, as presented in the
total models, left an unexplained variance below 1% for all activities.
Table 3: Intra-class Correlations for Interactive media activities
Variable
ICC
Interacting
Interchanging
Performing1: hardcore gaming
Performing2: casual gaming
Authoring
.421
.120
.236
.077
.074
ICC = intra-class correlation.
School level variance for interacting was rather large (39.1%) as the empty
models show. This amount was lowest for casual gaming and interchanging (5.7%
vs. 8.6%). These differences in variance distribution between the activities changed
after adding background variables, which left 2.0% of the unexplained variance at
the school level for interacting and authoring, 1.6% for interchanging and around
1.0% for hardcore and casual gaming. Thus after correction for background
variables, differences between schools were two times as large for interacting and
authoring as for hardcore and casual gaming. After adding the preference variables
to the empty models, variance distribution between the activities changed in
different directions, which left 30.8% of the unexplained variance at the school level
for interacting, and less than 1% for casual gaming. After correction for preference
variables, differences between schools were smallest for interchanging and casual
gaming (1.5% vs. 0.0%) and largest for interacting and hardcore gaming (30.8% vs.
8.5%). The unexplained variances at school level of background and preference
variables combined were below 1.2% for all activities.
114 ! Chapter 5
3.3 Background factors contributing to the intensity of types of interactive media
activities (research question 2)
In order to answer our second question the patterns of significant background
variables related to interactive media use will be discussed. Background factors
explained the variance for especially interacting (44.8%) and hardcore gaming
(46.6%). This means that background factors and possession of specific hardware
contributed to the intensity of the type of media use. Parental guidance had a small
significant negative effect on the intensity of interchanging (es = -.046) and casual
gaming (es = -.050). The possession of a console or a PC in a student's room
contributed to a student's intensity in especially hardcore gaming (es = .169 for
console), casual gaming (es = .91 for console and es = .94 for PC) and authoring (es =
.077 for console and es = .072 for PC). Age and gender contributed strongly to
differences in intensity for all types of activities. Girls appeared to be more active
with interchanging (es = -.275), while gender contributed most strongly to hardcore
gaming (es = .295). All educational levels correlated significantly with the intensity
of interacting compared to the primary education level, with effects ranging from es
= .233 for the vocational level to es = .277 for the preparatory higher education level.
For interchanging, the vocational level (es = .186) and preparatory higher education
level (es = .114) contributed significantly, while the vocational level (es = .097) and
the higher professional education level (es = .105) contributed significantly to
authoring. The vocational level and preparatory higher education level contributed
significantly to a decrease in hardcore gaming (es = -0.133 vs. es = -0.151), while the
preparatory higher education level also contributed significantly to a decrease in
casual gaming (es = -0.134).
3.4 Preferences contributing to the intensity of interactive media use (research
question 3)
For our third question, student preferences for interactive media were examined.
Patterns of significant opinions and preferences will be discussed for the four types
of interactive media use, based on the preference model. Preferences for specific
interactive media contributed highly to the use of these media. For instance, thinking
positively about Hyves affected interchanging in a positive way. The strongest
negative correlations could be found in the association between a) interchanging and
the opinion indicator for gaming and b) hardcore gaming and the opinion indicator
for interchanging. When all opinion items were analyzed separately, the strongest
correlation could be found for the opinion "I like to play games together" associated
with hardcore gaming (Table 9). The strongest negative correlation could be found
between "I feel unhappy when I can't play games" and interchanging.
3.5 Associations between types of interactive media use (research question 4)
The fourth question examined the level of association between the four types of
interactive media activities. Following existing educational research literature, we
expected that intra-class influence could be found for types of activities. Interacting
was strongly associated with all other activities. However, the strongest effect could
be found for interchanging. Interchanging was also negatively associated with
hardcore gaming, which resembled the contribution of gaming opinions to
interchanging. Authoring contributed positively to the intensity of all other types of
activities, most notably to interacting and interchanging. Hardcore gaming and
casual gaming were strongly associated with each other, which explained the
combination of these two activities as a result from the cluster analysis (Van den
Beemt, Akkerman, & Simons, 2010c).
This study focuses on the contribution of student, class and school characteristics to
the intensity of interactive media use. With this focus the present study aims to
understand the diversity of interactive media practices that are found in earlier
studies.
The results of multilevel analysis on data gathered from 2138 students aged 9
to 23, show that student characteristics and preferences for interactive media
contribute in diverging ways to the intensity of types of interactive media activities.
With respect to the extent to which schools, classes and students contribute to
differences in intensity of interactive media use our results indicate that the school
level shows more variance in contributing factors to types of interactive media
activities than class level. This means that schools seem to have a larger impact on
the use of types of interactive media than classes.
--
--
---
--
Student
Empty model
Coefficient
3.115 (.109)
Age
Gender
Own mobile
Nr of PC's at home
Nr of laptops at home
Nr of XBox at home
Nr of Wii at home
Nr of other consoles
Nr of port consoles home
Internet at room
PC at room
Console at room
Parents explain
Importance gaming
Gaming benefits
Importance networking
Chat for contact friends
Hyves for contact friends
SL for contact friends
E-mail for contact friends
Letter for contact friends
Mobile for contact friends
Phone for contact friends
Real life contact friends
Show identity MSN
Show identity Hyves
Show identity SL
Constant (mean)
Variable
.082
.137
.127
.042
-.042
.135
.148
.133
-.153
.057
-.044
.080
Total model
Effect
-0.211 (.139)
.036
.135
Activities
Effect
1.721 (.121)
.218
.126
.053
.055
.032
Preference
Effect
1.323 (.112)
.155
.062
.148
.073
.053
Background
Effect
1.124 (.166)
Table 4: Multilevel analysis on Interacting Regression Coefficients, Effect Sizes and Variance Components (α = .005)
116 ! Chapter 5
Student
Class
School
Explained (%)
Variance
-2 * log(like)
Difference log
vocational ed
prephigher ed
higher ed
Class
--
--
Empty model
Coefficient
4314.4
-
57.9
03.0
39.1
-
Show identity weblog
Show identity YouTube
Show identity Flickr
Show identity forum
Show identity Google earth
Show identity Myspace
Show identity games
Find identity MSN
Find identity Hyves
Find identity YouTube
Find identity Google earth
Interacting
Performing 1
Performing 2
Interchanging
Authoring
Variable
3919.6
394.8
51.3
01.6
02.4
44.8
.233
.277
.264
Background
Effect
2967.6
1346.8
33.6
02.5
30.8
33.2
-.194
.069
.262
.099
3362.5
951.9
38.7
03.0
41.9
16.4
-.194
.092
.244
.167
2774.6
1539.8
31.4
00.9
01.2
66.4
.156
.248
.193
-.168
.069
.278
.095
-.072
.053
-.083
.050
Total model
Effect
.123
Activities
Effect
.120
Preference
Effect
Table 4 (cont’d): Multilevel analysis on Interacting Regression Coefficients, Effect Sizes and Variance Components
--
--
---
--
Student
Empty model
Coefficient
2.525 (.076)
Age
Gender
Own mobile
Nr of PC's at home
Nr of XBox at home
Nr of Wii at home
Internet at room
PC at room
Console at room
Parents explain
Importance gaming
Gaming benefits
Show identity MSN
Show identity Hyves
Show identity SL
Constant (mean)
Variable
.079
-.046
.050
.065
-.046
-.181
-.275
.276
Background
Effect
2.348 (.257)
-.053
.270
.042
-.108
-.032
.155
-.071
.375
-.038
-.083
Preference
Effect
0.258 (.087)
Activities
Effect
0.625 (.033)
-.070
.264
-.079
.141
-.067
.347
-.084
.040
-.156
-.108
.105
Total model
Effect
0.707 (.144)
Table 5: Multilevel analysis on Interchanging Regression Coefficients, Effect Sizes and Variance Components (α = .005)
118 ! Chapter 5
Student
Class
School
Explained (%)
Variance
-2 * log(like)
Difference log
vocational ed
prephigher ed
higher ed
Class
--
--
Empty model
Coefficient
6370.2
-
88.0
03.5
08.6
-
Show identity forum
Show identity games
Find identity MSN
Find identity Hyves
Interacting
Performing 1
Performing 2
Interchanging
Authoring
Variable
5880.1
490.1
75.3
02.1
01.6
21.0
.186
.114
.113*
Background
Effect
3471.7
2898.4
28.1
00.9
01.5
69.5
.191
.025*
.000*
-.240
.051
-.045
-.040
-.076
Preference
Effect
5331.5
1038.7
62.2
03.1
07.7
27.0
.371
-.187
-.006*
-.352
Activities
Effect
3365.5
3004.7
27.3
00.5
00.0
72.3
.019*
.000*
-.004*
.227
.225
.021*
-.016*
.061
-.068
-.077
Total model
Effect
Table 5 (cont’d): Multilevel analysis on Interchanging Regression Coefficients, Effect Sizes and Variance Components
--
--
---
--
Student
Empty model
Coefficient
2.426 (.097)
Age
Gender
Own mobile
Nr of PC's at home
Nr of XBox at home
Nr of Wii at home
Internet at room
PC at room
Console at room
Parents explain
Importance gaming
Gaming benefits
Show identity MSN
Show identity Hyves
Show identity SL
Constant (mean)
Variable
-.038
-.034
-.047
-.061
-.061
.037
-.050
-.045
.169
.056
-.075
.082
.169
.219
.075
-.107
.111
.049
.151
.041
Total model
Effect
.438 (.152)
.100
.078
.217
.085
Activities
Effect
.615 (.120)
-.117
.099
Preference
Effect
.386 (.105)
-.200
.295
Background
Effect
2.031 (.187)
Table 6: Multilevel analysis on Performing1 Regression Coefficients, Effect Sizes and Variance Components (α = .005)
120 ! Chapter 5
Student
Class
School
Explained (%)
Variance
-2 * log(like)
Difference log
vocational ed
prephigher ed
higher ed
Class
--
--
Empty model
Coefficient
5718.5
-
76.4
03.5
20.2
-
Show identity forum
Show identity games
Find identity MSN
Find identity Hyves
Interacting
Performing 1
Performing 2
Interchanging
Authoring
Variable
4641.5
1077.0
50.4
01.8
01.2
46.6
-.133
-.151
-.042*
Background
Effect
3596.8
2121.7
35.8
00.5
08.5
55.2
4425.5
1293.0
47.9
00.8
18.8
32.5
3098.4
2620.1
29.2
00.1
00.5
70.3
-.104
-.141
-.088
.133
-.318
.036*
.037
.231
-.480
-.150
.070
-.039
.170
-.332
.039*
.036
Total model
Effect
.139
Activities
Effect
.205
Preference
Effect
Table 6 (cont’d): Multilevel analysis on Performing1 Regression Coefficients, Effect Sizes and Variance Components
--
--
---
--
Student
Empty model
Coefficient
1.902 (.046)
Age
Gender
Own mobile
Nr of PC's at home
Nr of XBox at home
Nr of Wii at home
Internet at room
PC at room
Console at room
Parents explain
Importance gaming
Gaming benefits
Show identity MSN
Show identity Hyves
Show identity SL
Constant (mean)
Variable
-.053
.047
-.045
-.063
.094
.091
-.050
.087
-.066
Total model
Effect
.356 (.093)
.098
Activities
Effect
.338 (.063)
-.083
.066
Preference
Effect
.378 (.085)
-.147
.140
.081
.054
Background
Effect
1.840 (.189)
Table 7: Multilevel analysis on Performing2 Regression Coefficients, Effect Sizes and Variance Components (α = .005)
122 ! Chapter 5
Student
Class
School
Explained (%)
Varian
-2 * log(like)
Difference log
vocational ed
prephigher ed
higher ed
Class
--
--
Empty model
Coefficient
5055.6
-
92.3
01.9
05.7
-
Show identity forum
Show identity games
Find identity MSN
Find identity Hyves
Interacting
Performing 1
Performing 2
Interchanging
Authoring
Variable
4788.8
266.8
84.8
01.8
01.0
12.4
-.104*
-.134
-.050*
Background
Effect
3636.7
1418.9
57.7
00.0
00.1
42.2
.088
.533
-.008*
.054
.050
Preference
Effect
.048
3815.1
1240.5
59.7
00.0
00.1
40.1
.107
.423
-.000*
.071
Activities
Effect
3609.4
1446.2
57.1
00.0
00.0
42.9
-.055
-.070
-.089
.141
.575
--.018*
.062
Total model
Effect
Table 7 (cont’d): Multilevel analysis on Performing2 Regression Coefficients, Effect Sizes and Variance Components
--
--
---
--
Student
Empty model
Coefficient
1.561 (.040)
Age
Gender
Own mobile
Nr of PC's at home
Nr of XBox at home
Nr of Wii at home
Internet at room
PC at room
Console at room
Parents explain
Importance gaming
Gaming benefits
Show identity MSN
Show identity Hyves
Show identity SL
Constant (mean)
Variable
.072
.077
.081
-.077
.073
Background
Effect
1.180 (.073)
-.096
-.100
-.088
-.090
-.050
-.053
.081
-.067
Total model
Effect
.210 (.077)
-.090
.084
.054
Activities
Effect
.098 (.066)
.066
.061
-.109
.080
.056
Preference
Effect
.093 (.073)
Table 8: Multilevel analysis on Authoring Regression Coefficients, Effect Sizes and Variance Components (α = .005)
124 ! Chapter 5
Student
Class
School
Explained (%)
Variance
-2 * log(like)
Difference log
vocational ed
prephigher ed
higher ed
Class
--
--
Empty model
Coefficient
4320.9
-
92.6
01.2
06.2
-
Show identity forum
Show identity games
Find identity MSN
Find identity Hyves
Interacting
Performing 1
Performing 2
Interchanging
Authoring
Variable
4170.2
150.7
89.3
01.4
02.0
07.2
.097
.003*
.105
Background
Effect
2965.6
1355.3
57.2
00.4
02.5
39.9
.150
.056
.058
.480
--
-.099
.211
-.044
.043
Preference
Effect
.095
.077
3388.6
932.3
65.5
01.2
02.7
30.6
.259
.094
.075
.361
--
Activities
Effect
2971.9
1349.0
57.6
00.2
01.2
40.9
.038*
-.059*
.047*
.182
.046*
.058
.483
--
-.091
.221
-.047
Total model
Effect
.105
.070
Table 8 (cont’d): Multilevel analysis on Authoring Regression Coefficients, Effect Sizes and Variance Components
-2 * log(like)
Difference log
Student
Class
School
Explained
Variance
3811.4
503.0
47.8
02.5
31.2
18.5
Gaming together
.149
Longer MSN
.143
Longer games
Unhappy no Hyves
Unhappy no games
-.058
Unhappy no MSN
.167
Non-gaming friends
Important gaming
.059
Like gamers better
Action prefer Wii
Action production
.049
Action Experimentation .045
Action learning
Playing outside
Watching TV
Interacting
Effect
2.199 (.108)
Student
Constant (mean)
Variable
5347.5
1022.7
61.2
01.7
02.9
34.3
-.047
.044
-.061
.088
.050
.205
-.044
.279
-.123
.154
.092
Interchanging
Effect
1.224 (.114)
.090
.075
.094
-.044
-.047
-.043
.149
.090
.067
-.066
-.056
4569.8
1148.7
48.3
01.0
11.4
40.3
4425.4
630.2
74.9
00.7
02.0
22.3
.114
.106
.109
.116
.061
.121
Performing2
Effect
1.090 (.083)
.278
Performing1
Effect
1.262 (.109)
3921.7
399.2
81.6
00.6
04.7
10.3
-.057
.092
.166
.104
.063
.166
Authoring
Effect
0.942 (.064)
Table 9: Multilevel analysis on Opinions - Regression Coefficients, Effect Sizes and Variance Components (*= ns at α = .005)
126 ! Chapter 5
A possible explanation for this between school variance can be found in a
combination of factors. First, the Dutch educational system, where each level, often
represented by specific schools (e.g. schools for vocational education or lycea), is
distinctively characterized by both method and culture. Each level attracts specific
types of students (see also Eurydice, 2009). Second, research shows interactive media
use as an out of school activity (Eynon, 2010; Greenhow & Robelia, 2009; Ito et al.,
2008). Because interactive media is an out of school activity, the influence of peers in
choosing specific interactive media is effective on school level instead of on class
level. However, this school level influence contrasts with effectiveness research that
shows class as a more important contributing factor (Townsend, 2007). These
contrasting results between effectiveness research and interactive media research in
turn, could mean that teachers within schools use similar approaches to interactive
media.
In response to the second research question, our results show that
background factors contribute to the intensity of specific interactive media activities.
Gender contributes a strong effect to interchanging (girls) and hardcore gaming
(boys). Possession of hardware in the student's own room, especially PCs and gameconsoles, contributes positively to the intensity of interactive media use.
Furthermore, parental guidance correlates with a small but significant negative
effect to the intensity of browsing, interchanging and casual gaming. Finally, the
level of education as a background factor appears to contribute little or no effect on
the types of interactive media activities, apart from authoring. Generally, students
from all educational levels are active with interacting, however, preparatory higher
education level students show the highest intensity. A similar effect can be seen for
interchanging: students from the vocational level are a little more intensively active
at interchanging compared to other levels. The vocational levels contribute
significantly to the intensity of authoring. Primary education students appear to be
most active with both kinds of gaming compared to other levels. The preparatory
higher education level contributes least to both hardcore gaming and casual gaming.
Taken together, for gaming these results indicate that the intensity does not increase
with age or educational level. Our results do not confirm existing research because
this most often focuses on a single cohort or educational level without applying
multilevel analysis.
128 ! Chapter 5
With respect to our third question, the preferences for specific interactive
media explain a large portion of the variance at both class and school level.
Preferences for specific interactive media activities contribute strongly to the
intensity of these activities. These results are in line with findings that the increased
use of cultural objects is affected by the image people have about these objects
(Jansen-Verbeke & Ashworth, 1990).
The answer to the fourth research question confirms the patterns of related
interactive media activities found in our previous study (Van den Beemt, Akkerman,
& Simons, 2010b). The strong relation between interacting and all other types of
activities shows the widespread use of the traditional interactive media applications
among
all
user
groups.
Furthermore,
the
negative
relationship
between
interchanging and hardcore gaming resembles the distinction between friendship
driven and interest driven participation found by Ito and colleagues (2008).
Given the findings, the implications for applying interactive media as
learning tools adapted to students points in the direction of a necessary, well
considered analysis of student characteristics and preferences. For instance, the
possession of specific hardware at home provides a possibility for experience, but is
also a prerequisite for school assignments. This means, for example, that educators
should adapt their assignments to the hardware available at home.
The strong association between gender, age and educational level and the
different types of activities leads to the general conclusion that educators should
choose specific learning tools that are tailored to students' expertise and interest,
developed by their interactive media activities. For instance, the low engagement in
interacting of the youngest age groups in our sample could imply that media literacy
should be part of the curriculum in primary education. However, this result could
also imply that traditional interactive media applications should not be used as
learning tools for younger students. The same kind of conclusion can be reached for
social software. Social software can be used in classes predominantly composed of
girls. Yet, conversely one can argue that these media can also be applied deliberately
to engage boys in more peer-directed forms of participation (Ito et al., 2008). Finally,
casual gaming appears to be a relatively solitary activity, in which a widespread
group of respondents report to participate. This could mean a possible use of small
games as learning tools.
The strong relationship between interacting and all other types of activities
suggests that the use of the traditional interactive media in educational contexts is
unproblematic. All other activities should be addresses and combined with care,
especially social software and extended games.
Our results indicate that interactive media use slightly decreases when
parents inform their children about these media and when the hardware is located in
a common room. The contribution of factors such as parental guidance or
preferences to the intensity of interactive media activities shows that interactive
media use is not static and can be influenced by contexts and opportunities offered
to students. Yet, because the effects of these factors are not always large, the
influence of others on interactive media use appears to be limited. For instance, the
relationship between opinions and interactive media use is mainly explained at the
classroom level. A small query regarding students' opinions about interactive media
would make clear which types of media are popular within a class. Still, this result
could also indicate the possibility of influencing the opinions of students in order to
intensify the use of specific types of interactive media. Of course, educators should
bear in mind the contribution of age, gender and educational level to types of
interactive media use in this situation. Because the contributing effects of the
relationships between preferences and parental guidance and interactive media use
are still unclear more research focusing on this is needed.
The results of this study confirm the diversity in interactive media use among
contemporary youths as found in existing research (Ito et al., 2008; Jones et al., 2009;
Kennedy et al., 2008; Kutteroff & Behrens, 2008). Our study brings more nuances to
this existing research by describing factors contributing to this diversity and by
proposing implications for education.
Because our current sample was not drawn randomly some results indicate a
need for further research with supplementary analysis. For instance, our results show
that primary education has a relatively large contribution to gaming, which is strange
given the complexity of many games that require cognitive efforts. It could be that this
finding is caused by the fact that many ICT-based exercises are disguised under a
playful interface and therefore might be perceived as 'games' by primary education
students. Furthermore, we did not include a school assignment factor in the
questionnaire. This means that we cannot analyze how a preference for types of
interactive media in a leisure context translates to preferences in a school assignment
130 ! Chapter 5
context. Finally, with factor analysis results as a starting point, we assumed variables
had an effect on the intensity of interactive media use. Because, this current study was
explorative in nature we did not include causal model analysis. Future research
should lead to the development of these kinds of models.
Although the engagement in authoring is relatively small, conducting further
research on this activity is worthwhile, investigating, for example, the contribution
of ICT skills or engagement in online communities. Furthermore, future research
could make use of interventions to see whether the suggested implications can be
realized in educational context (see for example Barab & Dede, 2007).
This study shows important associations between student characteristics and
types of interactive media activities. It explains over 50% of the class level variance
for the four types of activities, and over 25% of the school level variance for these
types of activities. This suggests that background characteristics may be a relevant
factor in developing preferences for types of interactive media. This contributes to an
enhanced understanding of the application of interactive media as learning tools in
education.
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among today's youth: results of a survey. Computers in Human Behavior. Vol 26, 11581165. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.022
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (2010c). Patterns of interactive media use
among contemporary youth. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. DOI: 10.1111/j.13652729.2010.00384.x
Wang, K., Wang, T., Wang, W. & Huangz, S. (2006) Learning styles and formative
assessment strategy: enhancing student achievement in web-based learning. Journal of
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in access, level, and scope of use. Social Science Quarterly, 86(1).
134 ! Chapter 5
CHAPTER SIX
Pathways in interactive media practices
among youths1
!
Abstract
This qualitative study examines how 11 Dutch students aged 14 and 15 develop interest in
specific types of interactive media practices and how they perceive these practices in relation
to others. The methods included semi-structured interviewing, autodriving visual elicitation
and photo elicitation using moodboards. Our results show the importance of peers for the
emergence of interest to learn about specific applications. We found that the learning process
of our respondents consists of searching and trying out by yourself, or asking peers in real
life or via MSN. Furthermore, although our respondents did not strongly typify their own
interactive media practices, they gave distinctive descriptions of tools, identities and practices
for other kinds of interactive media users. Although some respondents think positively of
interactive media in an educational context, all students want these media combined with
projects and explanation by teachers. Building on earlier research on diversity in interactive
media practices among contemporary youth, this paper provides a contextualised
understanding of both the emergence of these practices and possible implications for
education.
1
This chapter has been accepted as:
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (2010). Pathways in interactive media
practices among young people. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning.
136 ! Chapter 6
1. Introduction
1.1 Learning and interactive media practices
Contemporary youth moves in a range of physical and virtual spaces. These
movements involve connections and actions in relation to others, which in turn bring
forward opportunities to learn (Wenger 1998). Our present day society knows a
wider range of possible spaces where people can engage in connections and actions,
compared to earlier times (Van den Brink 2007). Consequently, the contexts for
teaching and all types of learning have become increasingly complex (Greenhow and
Robelia 2009). Barron (2006) speaks in this respect of a 'learning ecology', which
helps to conceptualize the development of expertise and experiences across the
spaces of home, school, work, and community (Greenhow and Robelia 2009).
In this learning ecology, young people engage in activities, such as playing
games, maintaining a webpage or explaining the use of social software to peers,
mostly outside school hours (Kutteroff and Behrens 2009; Schulmeister 2008). These
out-of-school activities allow for the development of expertise, while simultaneously
supporting the development of identity and interest (Barron 2006). In addition to
this out-of-school use, several studies show diversity in the use of Internet
applications and games among youth (Eynon, 2010; Ito et al., 2008; Jones et al. 2009).
In this paper Internet applications and games are combined under the label
'interactive media'. 'Interactive' in this definition refers to the technology being
responsive to the user's actions. However, as soon as the use and context of
interactive media are being examined, an ambiguity in terminology can arise. After
all, the behaviour and communication of humans is often refered to as 'social
interaction' (cf. Schütz, 1964). Furthermore, Interactive media are often used as tools
in social interaction (cf. Preece, Rogers and Sharp 2002). We attempted to avoid
ambiguity in this paper by describing the components of social interaction and
restricting the use of 'interactive' to references to technology.
To understand the nature of young people's diversity in interactive media
use, it is valuable to investigate the relation between this diversity and the
development of expertise, identity and interest. In this investigation it is important
to look at a) the origins of diversity by examining events that trigger people to start
using types of interactive media, and the resulting shared repertoire of experiences,
stories, tools, and ways of addressing recurring problems, also known as practice
(Wenger 1998) and b) the development of identities, which result from comparing
Pathways in interactive media practices among youths ! 137
one's own practices to others (Gurevitch, 1988). Hence, two questions are central to
this paper:
(1) What caused the respondents' interest to engage in interactive media
practices?
(2) How do respondents perceive their own interactive media practice in
relation to others?
Wenger (1998) argues that the essence of practices can be found in the stories
that users tell about a system. Therefore we use stories of interactive media use told
by students to answer our research questions. Answering these questions
contributes to an understanding of the relation between out-of-school interactive
media use and education. Because this relation is important for educators who want
to apply interactive media as learning tools, the respondents' perception of
interactive media use in the context of school will be examined as well. However, it
is important to note that the employment of interactive media as learning tools is
only one of the implications that can be drawn from the intensive use of these media
by youths.
1.2 Emergence of interest for interactive media practices
Our first research question will be answered by respondents' accounts of the
emergence of interest and subsequent interactive media practices. These accounts
extend previous research that shows diversity in young people's use of interactive
media and in their reflections on these media (Van den Beemt, Akkerman, & Simons,
2010b). In that study we discerned four groups of interactive media users. There is a
group of relatively low-end technology users, that mainly engage in the traditional
Internet activities focused on consumption and exchange of information, such as
sending e-mail, surfing the web or searching for information. We labelled this group
Traditionalists. There is a small group of high-end technology users, which we
labelled Producers, that makes relatively intensive use of all possible types of
interactive media, notably complex content production tools. Furthermore, two
groups of intermediate technology users are defined by mid-level technology use.
One group, labelled Gamers, shows and emphasis on playing games, and the other,
labelled Networkers, shows an emphasis on using all kinds of social software. The
Networkers and Producers are relatively intensive users of the more traditional
interactive media as well. This categorisation has additional value to results from
138 ! Chapter 6
other studies, because we included both Internet and gaming applications in our
analysis (see Schulmeister, 2008 for an overview of studies).
The use of specific interactive media applications starts with an 'emergence of
interest' (Barron 2006), which, as Barron argues, can best be studied by examining
pathways of participation. These pathways refer to the development of specific
kinds of practices. Consequently, examining these pathways should provide an
account of the kinds of events, activities and processes that spark interest in learning
to use interactive media applications.
Tracing the origins of diversity in interactive media practices is valuable for
educators because it will contribute to an understanding of the development of skills
and preferences for these practices among students.
1.3 Perception of interactive media practices in relation to others
In relation to the second research question, we discuss theoretical notions that can
guide the examination of students' perceptions of their own interactive media
practice in relation to others. The actual use of interactive media, which is ignited by
a spark of interest, makes it possible to see students as peripheral participants (Lavé
and Wenger 1991). They become peripheral participants of a network of interactive
media users, which especially counts for Gamers, Networkers and Producers. When
a person starts to participate in a network of interactive media users, s/he needs to
learn about the network's joint activities, the common ways of communication and
information sharing. Based on such community activities, people develop
relationships and a group identity that distinguishes them from others (Wenger
1998). However, we do not know whether the found diversity of interactive media
use indeed represents interactive media practices with distinct identities. These
identities can be traced by indications of otherness, such as defining people who use
different interactive media as ‘strange’ (Gurevitch 1988).
Schütz (1964) argues that social behaviour is guided by assumptions about
others being similar to themself. These assumptions allow people to typify
themselves and the world around them. Consequently, people enter new groups
under an assumption of the sameness of self and other (Gurevitch 1988).
Gurevitch (1988) argues that participation in a community entails that others
have to be made 'strange', which leads to an inexplicable combination of the familiar
(for instance other young people) and the strange (their engagement in practices
such as using social software). This tension comes to relief in 'otherness', the
definition of the other person's activities to be different from one's own, which leads
to a creative and critical search to understand the other and allows distinguishing
among selves (Gurevitch 1988). Thus making the other strange can result in either
recognition with a focus on a shared stock of knowledge, or distantiation with a
focus on strangeness (see also Akkerman, 2006).
In our examination of students' perceptions of their interactive media
practices in relation to others, the concept of otherness permits us to see whether, for
example a Gamer perceives other gamers as familiar and people who are found to be
Networkers as strange. We expect the concept will contribute to an understanding of
how aspects of identity and interest (Barron 2006) develop as part of interactive
media practices.
Understanding the perception of interactive media practices in relation to
others is valuable for education because it indicates whether we can speak of user
groups, each with its own identity that should be approached by educators in
distinctive ways.
2. Methods
This study extends the results of a quantitative survey among Dutch students. The
survey was conducted in the winter of 2008/2009 (N = 2138) among students aged 9
to 23, coming from all education levels between primary education and higher
professional education. The purpose of this survey was to discern the students'
interactive media use and reflections on this use. The findings of this prior study
serve as guidance for the current study, and are reported elsewhere (Van den Beemt,
Akkerman, & Simons 2010b).
2.1 Participants
For this paper, a study consisting of eleven semi-structured 1-to-1 sessions was set
up. Students were selected from two classes at the third year in preparatory higher
professional education (Dutch: havo). Students start at the age of 12 at this education
level, which takes five years to complete. The respondents were selected by means of
purposive sampling. This method implies an active search for cases within
categories, with the purpose of a better understanding of behaviour. This means that
all students in the selected classes filled out the questionnaire used in the
140 ! Chapter 6
aforementioned survey. The respondents were then identified based on the user
categories from the survey study. Students were randomly selected from each user
category to represent the population division of the survey results. Eleven of the
selected students agreed to be interviewed, among whom seven girls and four boys
aged 14 to 15. Although this number of respondents does not allow a generalisation
of the results to the population at large, "the findings and analysis ... may resonate
with the experiences of [young interactive media users] in similar circumstances and
be enlightening for educators who work with similar students and seek to
understand their online practices" (Greenhow and Robelia 2009, 127). Of the
students, three can be categorized as Traditionalist, three as Gamer, four as
Networker and one as Producer. All students in the study had at least one internetconnected computer at home.
2.2 Materials
The interview sessions consisted of three parts. First, interview questions were
posed regarding the respondent's history of interactive media use and the purpose,
opinions and social networks related to these media. All respondents were also
asked for their perception of interactive media use in the context of education. The
interview questions served as probes for the respondents to tell stories about their
interactive media use. Examples of questions were:
"What are the things you often do on the Internet?"
"How do you use these websites?"
"Can you explain how you increased your knowledge about these websites?"
"Can you tell me about [games, profile pages, MSN, YouTube] and people who use it?"
The second part of the interview consisted of questions steered by
autodriving visual elicitation (Prosser and Loxley 2008). This method is intended to
let respondents show their favourite social software, websites or games to the
researcher, while simultaneously explaining how they used these interactive media.
The principle of autodriving helped to ensure that interviews include topics relevant
to the respondents. During the process, respondents were encouraged to tell about
the functionalities they did use or did not use, and elaborate on the corresponding
reasons.
The third part of the interview consisted of photo elicitation. In this method
respondents were shown images of the four types of interactive media users:
Traditionalists, Gamers, Networkers and Producers. The images were designed by
the researcher in the form of so-called 'moodboards', showing the logos of specific
interactive media applications, combined with screenshots of these applications and
images of users. Figure 1 shows the moodboard that represented the Networkers.
Each moodboard carried a distinct 'punctum' (Barthes 1984 as cited in Prosser and
Loxley 2008) contained in the main topic - the use of games, social software,
authoring software or traditional internet applications – on which respondents
focused and gave their version of reality and meaning. However, whereas the
punctums acted as a control mechanism to say ‘tell me about this’, they also
restricted their potential by limiting the intrinsic ambiguities present in all
photographs that can be used to get respondents thinking and talking reflectively
(Walker and Weidel 1985 as cited in Prosser and Loxley 2008).
Figure 1:Moodboard 'Networkers'2
2
Due to copyright reasons, some parts of this image have been replaced by placeholders.
142 ! Chapter 6
The moodboards were used as "graphic probes" (Prosser and Loxley 2008, 19)
to talk about various interactive media practices. With this approach, the
participants’ perception of their own interactive media practices in relation to others
could be explored.
2.3 Procedure and analyses
All interviews were conducted in-person, video recorded by means of a webcam,
and lasted on average 45 minutes. The interviews were conducted at the
respondents' school, in the room where they take computer courses. This location
prohibited disturbance during the interview. However, it implied that console
games had to be discussed by means of gameplay videos on YouTube. For both the
kinds of visual elicitation, respondents were asked to use a laptop to show their
interactive media use and comment on the moodboards.
The researcher was aware of the allocation of respondents in user categories
during the interview, which guided the themes to be discussed. For instance:
Gamers were asked more, but not solely, about games. However, in order to let all
possible themes arise, all types of interactive media were touched upon. During the
interviews, all interviewees responded to all four moodboards, in order to let them
position their own interactive media practices in relation to others.
The data analysis consisted of two phases: 1) a within-case analysis to reach
data reduction and 2) a cross-case analysis to search for patterns in the respondents'
stories. In the first phase, data of each respondent were analysed. After transcription
and open-ended coding of the interviews, a thematic coding around categories
corresponding to the research questions was performed. This thematic coding
facilitated comparisons between students in a next phase. Flowcharts per student of
related concepts as a means for data display (vertical analysis) were used. Finally, a
comparative (horizontal) analysis of all respondents took place, which resulted in
accounts to draw conclusions and verify the data with the theoretical concepts
related to our research questions.
The technique of 'constant comparative analysis' (Glaser and Strauss 1967; see
also Boeije 2010) was used for both the vertical and the horizontal analysis in order
to continuously compare preliminary interpretations with accounts of the other
respondents and the theoretical framework. In the process of reading, interpreting
and checking, we focused on interpreting patterns of students' interactive media use.
Next, we report the common themes that emerged from this analysis,
organized into three sections. First, we present stories of three respondents as
prototypical examples of students' explanations of their interactive media use. The
following two sections present the results of our cross-case analysis and correspond
to our two subsequent research questions.
3. Results
3.1 Stories about interactive media use
The semi-structured interviews were intended to record the respondents' stories
about interactive media use. Therefore, before answering both our research
questions, we illustrate the results of our analyses by parts of the stories of three
students. These three students appeared representative for the other students in
their user category: A Producer named Rosannah, a Networker named Edmond, and
a Gamer named Mario3. Mario and Rosannah were technology savvy and eloquent
about their interactive media use. Edmond made intensive use of social software. He
also played games to enjoy the social aspects of online gaming. All three respondents
engaged in the traditional interactive media activities grouped under 'interacting'.
3.1.1 Rosannah's story
Rosannah, a 14-year-old Producer, told us that the tools she uses frequently are
YouTube, a weblog, Hyves4, MSN and games on pc and console. Online she
occasionally plays small games, which she called "gibberish games". Rosannah
reported to upload videos to YouTube together with her father and friend and to use
Hyves to send friends short messages ('scraps'), upload photographs, embed
YouTube videos, and keep a weblog. Furthermore, she uses YouTube to "listen to
videos" which her friends advice to her. By means of the 'related videos' option she
might wander around on YouTube. Next to that she keeps a personal weblog at an
online diary site. Both her Hyves page and the diary are hidden from public access
and only visible for invited friends. Rosannah explained that she was inspired by her
father and brother to use the computer at the age of five, when she figured out how
to let the Smurfs on her father's gameconsole jump and run around.
3
All names are fictitious.
Hyves, a website resembling Facebook, was the most popular social networking site in the
4
144 ! Chapter 6
She learns how to use new applications and play new games by trial and
error. Rosannah stated that she can get frustrated by this process, at which point she
puts away the application to pick it up again after a while. If she gets stuck in an
application, she uses MSN to ask peers for help. She reported to be considered a
computer expert by friends, which means she has to help them as well. Rosannah
develops her opinion about applications by means of "Googling": when she hears or
reads about a new website or game, she starts a query on Google and reads reviews
published on websites. Then she decides whether she wants to try out the new
application.
Rosannah reported that Hyves and other profile pages are used to show
others relevant issues about yourself, what you have done, "simply to share things".
She did not think that young people form a distinct generation because of their
interactive media use. She argued that everybody uses the basic tools, such as
Google or e-mail. Rosanna thought that boys are mainly game players and they
remain so until they are 30 or 40 years of age. Furthermore, she stated that boys use
Google, because "they like to look things up; girls like to share".
Rosannah thought that interactive media as learning tool in school can be
"fun, as recreation". However, according to her, teachers should combine it with
projects and explanation, "Although teachers might think [this combination of
games, projects and explanation] is unrealistic".
3.1.2 Edmond's story
Networker Edmond (15) reported that he did not know about profile pages until his
niece showed him her page. Together they made his profile page, and since that
moment he has been making daily use of Hyves and MSN. His other tools are online
games - casual games or console games. Edmond explained that he plays games
because of the in-game communication with others, rather than for the content,
although he prefers action games.
Edmond argued that his opinions about applications are formed by means of
Google or videos on YouTube. For instance, when his friends tell Edmond about
new games, he first looks for online reviews and videos. After that, he wants to try
and decide for himself. Edmond stated that trying out by himself is also the way he
learns how to use applications.
While showing his profile page, Edmond told us that he always accepts
invitations from friends and that he thinks it is important and fun to keep in touch
with others, even if you only know them remotely.
Everybody, according to Edmond, uses the basic tools, while games are
played by young people age 8 and up; these are mainly boys "because they like
action better than girls". Edmond thought that social software is used by young
people, however, "their age begins to increase to above 30". Boys between 14 and 20,
who "like to make fun of others", are the ones making YouTube videos.
Interactive media as learning tool in school is "weird" according to Edmond.
He considered MSN to be "a out of school thing", while games as learning tool
"could be funny". However, the teacher should be at hand otherwise "you would
only sit around and play games".
3.1.3 Mario's story
Mario, a 14-year-old Gamer, reported to play games and create games with
Gamemaker. He explained that he learns how to play a game by trying out by
himself or searching for hints on forums. Mario argued that because he plays a lot of
games, he can give others advice on games. He does so in person rather than via
email or MSN. Sometimes he places messages on game forums. Mario explained that
he develops his opinion about games by means of information found on Google and
trying out new releases. Mario also looks at new games in stores, because, as he
argued, "as a gamer you recognize a good game [by the cover]". He always tries out
new games in a series when he liked the other parts.
Mario stated that he does not use social software because "[he does] not know
what to do there". Furthermore, he argued that playing large console or pc-games is
a serious matter, while small games are played "for fun".
Mario thought that everybody uses the traditional interactive media.
Furthermore, he argued that young people "who like to have a cosy chat" use social
software. Games are played by boys, and the producers of interactive media content
can be "anyone, because it is really not difficult to make". When people grow up they
stop playing games because, as Mario stated, "when you're older, you are busy with
more serious things". Gamers form a specific group, with one important rule: "just
play nice and cosy with each other". According to Mario all media are one blur of
possibilities. However, he does not share his games or gameplay videos with the
146 ! Chapter 6
community: "Making videos is not difficult", he said, "I just don't see the point in
uploading stuff".
Finally, Mario thought that games as learning tool in school "can be fun. More
fun than a book. But only once in a while, as an addition".
3.2 Emergence of interest and peripheral participation (research question 1)
By means of the concept emergence of interest we analysed the origins of the
respondents' interactive media use. Additionally, we asked students about their
perception of interactive media as learning tool.
All students in our study felt that peers such as friends or family ignited the
spark of interest for certain interactive media, which can also be seen in the stories of
Rossanah, Edmond and Mario. This spark of interest resulted in participation in the
group of interactive media users, which often started with trial and error or by
imitating the practice of peers. This initial acquaintance with a website or game and
the subsequent process of learning how to use specific applications, consisted for all
respondents of asking peers or trying by themselves. The stories of some students
showed that there is also a certain amount of peer pressure involved in using
applications. Two students described how they transferred the password and
maintenance of their profile page to a close friend. Although they use it to stay in
touch with their friends, they reported a lack of interest in the application itself.
The Producer and two of the Gamers indicated their interest in content as the
motivation for interactive media use. This contrasts with the Networkers, who
reported to use interactive media for communication with others. Furthermore, the
Networkers' accounts of content and functionality were often less in-depth
compared to Gamers. These results substantiate the conceptual distinction between
content driven and interest driven uses of interactive media (Ito et al. 2008).
In response to our question about the application of interactive media as
learning tool, most respondents initially stated that they do not want interactive
media or games as learning tools in school. The Gamers were an exception, because
they saw the amusement part as benefit. Nevertheless, all students argued that if
interactive media were applied as learning tool in class, it should be done in
combination with other materials such as books or explanation from a teacher.
3.3 Students' perception of their participation in relation others
(research question 2)
To answer our second research question, we first report how the respondents
perceived their own interactive media use. Subsequently we briefly describe the
reported characteristics of groups of interactive media users.
Generally, our respondents explained their own practice by describing
'mundane' (Buckingham 2008) forms of interactive media use. All respondents
reported to use the traditional interactive media such as Google, MSN or email.
These applications were referred to by verbs such as 'Googling' or 'MSN-ing'
indicating it as activity instead of being a tool. Most respondents reported to use
Hyves, however, with varying intensity and skill. On this social networking website,
some respondents use only the short message option (scraps), while others have all
available content clusters filled out and know how to embed videos and maintain a
weblog on it. The female respondents who were active on Hyves, talked
euphemistically about gaming. First they told the interviewer not to play games.
However, the girls' stories showed that most of them play small games on a regular
basis. They defined gaming as "spending many hours, each day" on titles other than
small games. Generally, the respondents considered interactive media as selfevident. However, more in-depth questions showed that not all functionalities of, for
instance profile pages, were known or understood by them. The Traditionalists
among our respondents did not talk extensively or in great depth about interactive
media. They also abstained more than the others from specific applications, because
they argued not to know "what to use it for". The Networkers, Gamers and Producer
showed more eloquence and an open attitude towards interactive media, which can
also be seen in the stories of Rosannah, Edmond and Mario
The students' descriptions of their interactive media practices in relation to
others always started with a reference to age groups, which from the perspective of
'otherness' (Gurevitch 1988) can be seen as 'familiar'. From the responses to the
moodboards it appeared that Traditionalists are not seen as a distinctive group or
community. All respondents stated that 'everybody' engages in the traditional
interactive media activities (interacting), which indicated both young and older
people. When probed for an age indication of 'older', they answered "25 and up".
Users of games and social software were labelled as 'young people', with "children of
my own age" or "between 10 and 16" mentioned as age indications. All students
148 ! Chapter 6
thought that young people make more intensive and skilful use of interactive media
compared to older people. The question 'who creates online content such as
YouTube videos?' was answered with either "I don't know" or "older young people,
because you need skills to do that". None of the respondents, other than the
Producer, reported to know of other people that produce interactive media content.
In addition to age, the respondents often referred to gender differences as
characteristic for groups of interactive media users. The male respondents thought
that Networkers are mainly girls; the females thought that Networkers are boys as
well. This difference between boys and girls can be seen as an indication of making
the other 'strange', which is necessary to define your personal identity (Gurevitch
1988). The respondents thought that the group of Gamers consists of boys who will
play less or quit gaming once they get older. Most respondents thought girls played
The Sims. One male gamer added "but when they are 12 years old, they will leave
that behind". The female respondents distanced themselves from the group of
Gamers, despite the fact that they reported to play (small) games themselves.
This study focuses on how students start to use specific interactive media
applications, as well as how they perceive their own interactive media practice in
relation to others. With this focus the present study aims to understand the nature of
the diversity in interactive media practices that is found in earlier studies.
The interviews with 11 students consistently show the role of peers and
family members in the emergence of interest to engage in interactive media
practices. It appears that no specific or deliberate event prompted this spark of
interest. However, in some cases we can speak of peer pressure: students report to
use applications because all their friends do so as well. The role of peers is also
present in the students' process of learning to use specific interactive media
applications, when peers provide information about these media. Concludingly, the
various narrations show the strong influence of significant others.
With respect to the students' perception of their interactive media practices in
relation to others, we asked them to show and elaborate on their own interactive
media tools, as well as to respond to moodboards of four types of interactive media
activities (interacting, performing, interchanging and authoring). The results indicate
that the students do not strongly typify their own interactive media practices. Hence,
our respondents do not seem to be aware of their own identity in relation to
interactive media use. However, they describe distinct tools, identities and practices
for people engaged in interactive media practices other than their own.
Our finding that students did not explicitly typify their own interactive media
practices can be interpreted in different ways. For one, it can be seen as a difficulty in
reflecting on one’s own practice perhaps caused by the respondents' age and
subsequent level of identity development. However, it can also be seen as a case of
'benign community neglect' (Lavé and Wenger 1991), which indicates the use of
applications without knowing about its community or practice. The concept of
'otherness' (Gurevitch 1988) fits our findings: the respondents recognize other types
of interactive media users because these are young as well (familiar). However, the
behaviour of these others, for instance playing games intensively or making fun of
others in YouTube videos, is considered strange. In line with Gurevitch (1988), the
interviewer's request to describe and label types of interactive media users could
lead for otherness to emerge, while in every day practice students would not be
aware of the differences. This is confirmed by some respondents commenting on the
usefulness of this study and the interest of 'older people' for characteristics of their
With the recognition that contemporary youth increasingly uses interactive
media, many educators and educational institutes have started to look for ways to
implement interactive media as learning tools in education (see for example Annetta
2008; Skiba and Barton 2006). We claim that before doing so, it is important to better
understand both the diversity of interactive media use (Van den Beemt, Akkerman,
& Simons 2010a, 2010b, 2010c), as well as the nature of this diversity, that is, how
this diversity emerged and whether it represents distinct communities. Besides
investigating these issues, we also asked the students in the interviews what they
think of using interactive media tools in school context. The answers to this question
imply reservations in the application of interactive media as learning tool. For
instance, Networkers report to use interactive media for communication with others.
Because most of them play small games as well, this could indicate the use of
groupwork, with peer feedback, supported by small games. Furthermore, because
the Gamers and the Producer speak in terms of interesting content as a motivation
for interactive media use, these small games should combine obvious gameplay with
encouraging content. However, the respondents' initial doubts about games being
150 ! Chapter 6
useful as learning tool might bring more nuance to this conclusion. Even more
nuance can be found in the students' wish to always combine interactive media in
class with books, assignments and explanation by teachers. These results are in line
with other studies that show that young people are, as considerable public attention
has noted, far more excited by the Internet as a communication medium than as a
learning resource (Livingstone and Bober 2004).
The results of our study are limited by the number of respondents, which
means that it was hard to reach saturation for all four user categories (see also Guest,
Bunce, and Johnson 2004). This implies that the results should be perceived as
resonating with behaviour of other youths instead of being generalised to the
population at large. Hence, a follow up study with more and older students might
also contribute to a better understanding of the development of identity in relation
to interactive media practices.
By showing the importance of peers when students become participants in
networks of interactive media users, this paper indicates two implications for
education. First, educators can trust the network in initiating students to new
applications and ways of developing skills. Second, because significant others, such
as parents and nearby family can have a positive influence as well, it appears useful
to guide a student's interactive media use by showing possible applications, rather
than posing rules and restrictions on the computer use at home (see also Van den
Beemt, Akkerman, & Simons 2010c). The problem however, is that parents are often
reported to have too little skills to use social software or play games.
Although students show diversity in both the motives for participation, as
well as the resulting practices, they all appear to follow similar pathways towards
these practices. All students develop a trial and error attitude in learning to use
interactive media. Only when failure looms, students consult their network. This
implies that educators can make this attitude a prerequisite for assignments and
projects, for all students equally. However, because the pathways result in different
types of interactive media practices, it is important that different groups of users
should be addressed according to their specific skills and interests when applying
interactive media in the context of education.
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154 ! Chapter 6
CHAPTER SEVEN
Discussion and reflection
!
"You don't understand something until you understand it more than one way."
Marvin Minsky
156 ! Chapter 7
1. The context for this thesis
Research in the social sciences often emerges from an engaged perspective
(Wertbeziehung), which, as Weber (1964) argued, is more fundamental to science than
the moral demand of objectivity (Wertungsfreiheit). My Wertbeziehung for this PhD
study is the resonance in education of claims about contemporary youths and their
use of interactive media. As a researcher I strive to reach Wertungsfreiheit by trying to
avoid a priori categories that filter both the answers of respondents and the results of
analysis and by presuming that in society all participants have their own reality.
This presumption means describing and accepting these particular realities in
relation to the investigated phenomenon. This relativist viewpoint leaves
unhindered that I doubted the net generation debate's claims about young people's
interactive media use. Although these claims are part of some people's reality, I felt
the need to scrutinise them.
In this thesis I examined young people's interactive media use with a focus on
specific aspects: origins, backgrounds, motives and patterns. This focus was applied
to create a comprehensive description of young people's realities related to their
interactive media use. This description was intended as an academic account of
students' relations to interactive media in view of possible consequences for
education and is pursued by means of an interdisciplinary approach consisting of
sociology, (interactive) media studies and educational science.
A description of the use and context of interactive media, can give rise to
ambiguity in terminology. In this PhD thesis, Internet applications and games were
combined under the label 'interactive media'. 'Interactive' in this definition refers to
the technology being responsive to the user's actions. However, the behaviour and
communication of humans is often refered to as 'interactive' as well. Furthermore,
Interactive media are often used as tools in social interaction (cf. Preece, Rogers &
Sharp 2002), Examples of this use are social software and MSN. The possible
vagueness in terminology is not simply a matter of semantics. When the first types
of interactive media were developed, the distinction between social interaction and
human-computer interaction was clear: in contrast with humans, the computer was
very limited in interaction possibilities. Today, software known as intelligent bots
and agents can have an extended repertoire of interactions, which makes it difficult
to distinguish them from human beings. For instance, on Twitter, bots can present
themselves as regular users with contextual replies to messages or queries. In this
Discussion and reflection ! 157
thesis we attempted to avoid ambiguity by specifically describing the components of
social interaction related to interactive media use, and by restricting the use of
'interactive' to references to technology.
The scientific context for this thesis is defined by a growing number of empirical
studies that examine interactive media use among youth in terms of consequences
for learning and education. Each subsequent chapter in this thesis shows that the
few empirical studies found in the beginning of 2009 have been replenished by a
large number of studies that undermine the assumptions and beliefs of the net
generation debate with empirical data.
In what follows I first answer the main question of this thesis by combining
the results of the sub-questions defined in the introductory chapter. After that I
reflect on successively the applied interdisciplinary approach, the methods and
results of this thesis and the challenges for future research. This chapter concludes
with a reflection on implications for education, with an emphasis on digital games.
2. An integrated answer to the main question
The question central to this PhD thesis is: What interactive media practices do young
people in contemporary Western society engage in? The answer to this question shows
that the main hypothesis is supported, that is, diversity in interactive media
practices can be found among young people in terms of origins, backgrounds,
motives and patterns. The answer itself can be summarised as follows: In our
present day society, social action is influenced by abundance of choice and
decreasing social guidance. This requires people to reflexively form their affinity
spaces. Social behaviour and reflections on this behaviour take place in and shape a
person's social space and cultural space. The intensive use of interactive media
among young people is presumed to shape this social and cultural space. We
perceive this shaping of spaces as the social function & cultural function of
interactive media. We consider both the social and cultural functions as motives for
interactive media use that guide kinds of participation in networks of interactive
media users. This participation is either primarily focused on content (interestdriven participation) or on peers (friendship-driven participation). Both kinds of
participation can result in consumption or production of interactive media content.
The motives can lead to diversity in interactive media practices. This diversity
158 ! Chapter 7
becomes visible in the interactive media activities that we found to correlate
strongly, and that we categorised in four types: interacting, performing,
interchanging and authoring. Furthermore, this diversity becomes visible in
categories of interactive media users that we distinguished on the basis of answer
patterns: Traditionalists, Gamers, Networkers and Producers. The categories of
activities are related to preferences for and opinions about interactive media. The
combinations of activities, preferences and opinions are reflected in patterns of
interactive media use. These patterns are influenced by background factors on
school, class and individual level. Peers often prompt an emergence of interest for
types of interactive media. The resulting peripheral participation develops itself in a
dynamic exchange with expertise and preferences for types of interactive media. An
important aspect in this respect is otherness, the passive development of one's own
identity by actively labelling other interactive media users.
3. Reflection on theoretical approach: in-between sociology, media
studies and educational science
The interdisciplinary approach applied in this thesis consisted of sociology,
(interactive) media studies and educational science. By choosing this approach to
examine origins, motives, backgrounds, and patterns, we attempted to reach an
understanding in more than one way of young people's interactive media practices.
Because there was not much theory-driven empirical data available at the start of
this PhD project, it appeared obvious to describe these practices in an explorative
manner, with a broad view, not limited by the directions to methods and research
questions of a single discipline as reflected in its common symbolic meaning (Denzin,
1987 as cited in Wester, 1991).
The interdisciplinary approach proved valuable because it permitted us to
examine the practices of youths while they move through a multitude of domains,
such as school, home or the sports club. In many of these domains youths use
interactive media, which in this sense are inherent to their daily lives. At the same
time, in many of these domains youths engage in learning activities, such as
obtaining knowledge about mathematics or languages, or acquiring skills to use
internet applications. Because of the apparently boundary-free movement through
domains and the corresponding variety of learning activities, we can speak of a
learning ecology (Barron, 2006). This concept, which refers to learning across the life
spaces of home, school, community, work, and neighbourhoods, forms the object of
our study.
An interdisciplinary approach helps educational researchers to grasp the
value of interactive media as learning tools, because media studies and sociology
bring in the attention for the world outside the classroom. Sociology places the use
of interactive media in a wider perspective of economy, politics and culture, without
seeing these media as means to an end. Media studies explains that the daily use of
interactive media is not much different from media use in previous times (see also
McLuhan, 1964). For example, on the Internet people look at images or a funny
video, they quickly browse through a text, and then chitchat about it with their
friends. However, the scale of these 'mundane' (Buckingham, 2008) practices is
larger, more personalized and participative than was ever possible before (Selwyn,
2010). This can be assumed to impact all domains of society, including education.
Educational research contributes to the equation by providing ways to deduct
consequences for learning processes and education from these interactive media
practices. This combination of disciplines made it possible to not only examine
interactive media use, but also simultaneously ask for interactive media preferences
and opinions and for group behaviour. Most other studies on interactive media in
view of learning, examine solely the use of these media or their application as
learning tools, instead of connecting these aspects to the socio-cultural context of
preferences, identities or sub-cultures. In what follows I reflect more specifically on
how each of the three disciplines has contributed to this thesis.
3.1 Taking a sociological perspective
The main task for sociology is to unmask the structures of the social world that are
usually "taken for granted" (Schütz, 1964). In this thesis we attempt to comply with
this task by applying three concepts related to social structures: reflexivity, social space
and cultural space.
Reflexivity refers to people's efforts to examine and give meaning
to their own and others’ practices. The results of these examinations are a basis for
subsequent behaviour. For instance, our qualitative study showed that students used
the Internet and conversations among peers to define the meaning and future use of
digital games or social networking sites. Giddens (1993) argues that modern social
life asks people for a reflexive attitude as a result of an endless stream of incoming
160 ! Chapter 7
information. Therefore reflexivity is a key aspect of modernity as a field of force
between tradition and renewal, as we explained in chapter 2.
Approaching reflexivity as a trait of modernity offers a framework to examine
contemporary interactive media use in relation to domains such as education.
Because reflexivity is the result of the tension between tradition and renewal (Van
den Brink, 2007), it allowed us to invalidate claims of radical education renewal.
Furthermore, reflexivity justifies the possibilities that youths have in late modernity
to participate in society and develop an identity. This aspect made us recognize that
when young people use the Internet to develop their social and cultural space, a
tension can arise between the local needs of youths and the global character of online
information. Poster (2006) describes for example a possible tension between the local
issue of discovering sexual identity and globally available online information or
forums. This tension uncovers the need to define meaning on a local level, which
requires filtering content from different cultural contexts.
Second and third concepts related to social structures are social space and
cultural space. Berger and Luckmann (1966) argued that all human behaviour is
organized around spaces and objects. According to Bourdieu (1984), this behaviour,
together with subsequent norms, values, ideas and preferences, constitute a person's
social space. Following Elchardus and Glorieux (2002) we opted for an analytical
distinction between a person's patterns of social relations and forms of participation
(social space) and the subsequent patterns of values, ideas, taste and identity
(cultural space). The value of this distinction lies in the recognition that the
development and changes in behaviour do not necessarily implicate a simultaneous
development of norms, values and preferences. Nonetheless, given that young
people's social spaces are more diverse than before, it can be expected that their
identity, represented in their cultural space, becomes less stable and more
fluctuating and fragmented (Hermans, 2006).
Both the concepts social space and cultural space were valuable for
understanding the social and cultural functions of interactive media for young
people. People can use interactive media primarily to interact with others, which we
perceived as the social function, or people can use these media primarily with a
focus on content or interest, the cultural function. These distinct functions are
reflected in the types of interactive media activities focused on social aspects, such as
interchanging (social function), and in the types of activities focused on interest,
such as performing and producing (cultural function).
3.2 Taking a media studies perspective
In the field of media studies it is not the media technology itself that is subject to
research, but rather the contents and effects of use. As soon as a medium is achieved,
it becomes a general human property, an extension of a general human capacity (see
also Lister, Dovey, Giddings, Grant, & Kelly, 2005). Media are social phenomena,
because they exist by virtue of intentions, power and economics. This approach
means a focus on the employment of media for certain ends, which by consequence
results in a variety of outcomes or possibilities ranging from functional websites to
violent digital games or YouTube videos that show people being mocked. As such
the nature of a culture is affected by technology and the way it is used.
In this thesis the social and cultural functions of interactive media are
examined by means of the concepts of friendship-driven participation and interestdriven participation (Ito et al., 2008). These concepts allowed for describing
combinations of activities based on the purpose of interest in either contact and
communication, or in specific information-domains.
The concepts were valuable because both the survey studies and the qualitative
study showed that patterns of interactive media use can be traced back largely to
these two distinct motives. For instance, students engaged in social networking are
mainly friendship-driven, while students engaged in gaming and producing content
are mainly interest driven.
The general value of the distinction between friendship-driven participation and
interest-driven participation can be found in the connection of these motives for
interactive media use to the concept reflexivity. This connection relates these concepts
to the theme of local versus global tendencies. Our results showed that young people
mainly search for local (online) peers, such as class-members or friends living in the
same city. Sometimes they search for local spaces where they can meet trusted
contacts. 'Local' in this sense can refer to wider areas such as a home country. This
indicates the need for local solutions to global tendencies such as social networking.
Examples of this kind of local solutions are social networking sites such as Hyves in
the Netherlands, Mixi in Japan, Odnoklassniki in Russia or Cloob in Iran. The
interest driven participation appears to be less locally confined. Gamers play online,
162 ! Chapter 7
in principle with people from all over the world. Producers publish their creations
on platforms such as YouTube or Flickr, which are freely accessible for everyone
with an Internet connection. Therefore, the employment of interactive media as
learning tools implies an examination of the relation between local needs and issues
in education and the global character of interactive media.
The media studies perspective revealed a current rapid convergence of
interactive media. Where at the time of the preliminary study and the survey most
applications had one clear function (e.g. gaming or networking), today many
Internet sites combine those functions. For instance Facebook is a fast growing
platform for social networking as well as gaming and publishing content. In view of
this convergence of interactive media, Jenkins (2006) describes discriminating
motives for interactive media participation: people are more focused on either
interactive content consumption or on interactive content production. None of our
studies showed a conscious distinction for these motives among our respondents.
McLuhan (1964) would argue that this unconscious use of interactive media
functionalities is caused by young people's permanent immersion in these media.
Young people do not know a world without the Internet, which makes it difficult for
them to reflect on their interactive media use. As McLuhan (1964) argued,
technology is everything that did not exist when you were born. From a youth
culture perspective we might add: technology is everything that did not exist when
you reached your formative years.
3.3 Taking an educational science perspective
The appropriate selection and use of learning tools is an important topic for
educational science. For this thesis it means considering the use of interactive media
in educational contexts. Although young people's interactive media use mainly takes
place outside school, we may expect that students bring related experiences, skills
and preferences to school (see also Barron, 2006). This implies that educators and
educational researchers should take into account the position of interactive media in
young people's everyday lives. This can be done by examining the students live
world both in and outside the classroom, for which we presented a sociological
perspective in this thesis. The results of our investigations into young people's
interactive media use were translated to possible implications for education. For this
translation, practices was an important concept. Wenger (1998) defined practice as the
repertoire of experiences, stories, tools, and ways of addressing recurring problems.
This definition made practices a useful concept to describe patterns of use,
preferences and opinions related to interactive media.
In our studies we asked a small number of students about their opinion on
using interactive media in school contexts. The results, as our qualitative study
showed, are not very promising: most students were happy with a teacher, books
and projects, and did not wish for interactive media as learning tools. These results
are in line with a study by Salomon & Gardner (1986) who, more than two decades
ago, described negative dispositions of students towards television as a learning
medium.
In this thesis, possible consequences for education of interactive media
practices were deduced from the results instead of investigated. Nonetheless, these
implications provide suggestions for future research as well as pointers for a critical
examination of interactive media use. With regard to digital games as learning tools,
a number of these pointers are discussed at the end of this chapter.
4. Reflection on methods: mixed methods.
In this thesis we employed a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to
understand as many different sides of interactive media practices as possible. This
combination of methods, which was driven by an interdisciplinary theoretical
approach, allowed explorative research on a diversity of levels. Cluster analysis
applied in the preliminary study provided an outline of diversity in interactive
media activities and users. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) applied in the largescale survey provided a more detailed description of patterns of interactive media
practices. These patterns were further explored by analysing preferences and
opinions whit exploratory factor analysis. Background factors were analysed by
means of multilevel analysis of the survey data and origins of interactive media use
were explored with qualitative analysis. The combination of methods made it
possible to answer a broad and more complete range of research questions because
we were not confined to a single method or approach (see also Johnson &
Onwuegbuzie, 2004).
We chose for an explorative approach because there were almost no reference
studies available when we started the preliminary study. We analysed a large
number of variables gathered from a large group of respondents coming from a
164 ! Chapter 7
wide range of educational levels and age groups. This approach contrasts with most
other studies that focus on a small age group or one cohort from one educational
level, while analysing only one aspect, for instance the use of internet applications
for learning. None of the available studies applied advanced methods such as factor
analysis or multilevel modelling. The milestone work by Ito and colleagues (2008)
appeared to be the only large-scale qualitative study about interactive media
cultures. Our results thus show a comprehensive combination of use, preferences,
opinions, and backgrounds, together with social-psychological behaviour and
identity development, all differentiated on school, class and student level.
The combination of methods coloured the interpretation of the findings and
brought focus to our results with each subsequent study. The cluster analysis
method fitted well the first stages of explorative research conducted in the
preliminary study. The dataset of this study allowed us to examine the assumptions
of the net generation debate and to present a first indication of diversity. The
downside of cluster analysis is the lack of a statistical algorithm. This method simply
starts with each case as a category and then reduces categories by conducting caseto-case means comparison. Cluster analysis includes all items in the categorisation,
which always means that the largest cluster, in our case the category labelled
'browsing', is a generic category.
Employing Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on the large-scale survey
data provided a refinement of the categories found in the preliminary study. Because
factor analysis filters items based on their contribution to relations, the categories
obtained with CFA were easier to interpret compared to those obtained with cluster
analysis. Although both methods revealed a similar type of diversity in interactive
media use, the results differed on details such as the categorisation of a small
number of items with small factor loadings. After the CFA we were able to describe
patterns of interactive media use, preferences and opinions, by employing
exploratory factor analysis.
We finished our quantitative analyses with multilevel analysis (MLA) of the
survey
data.
Within
educational
research
students
and
classes
can
be
“conceptualized as a hierarchical system of individuals and groups, with individuals
and groups defined at separate levels of this hierarchical system” (Maas & Hox,
2002). By analysing background characteristics of students on school, class and
individual level together with their relations, our study appeared to be one of the
first studies on interactive media use to take into account the multilevel nature of the
data collection method. We employed MLA exploratively. However, the method can
also generate structural models. Further research should focus on these models to
allow replication with other datasets.
Our quantitative methods resulted in largely the same results as other
international studies (Eynon, 2010; Hargittai & Walejko, 2008; Kennedy, Judd,
Churchward, Gray, & Krause, 2009). However, our data made it possible to analyse
all currently used interactive media instead of only Internet applications. The large
number of items combined with the large number of respondents, permitted to work
in a 'bottom-up' manner without defining a priori categories. The results show not
only a categorisation of all interactive media applications, but also relations between
these categories for specific groups of users, such as Gamers being active with both
games and the more traditional applications. All employed methods showed
generally the same result: diversity among respondents that can be traced back to
four types of interactive media use. The similarity of results on a general level and
differences on detail level made it clear that the data show a snapshot approached
with a specific method.
Conducting the qualitative study turned out to be quite difficult, because
young people do not talk easily about themselves, their behaviour and their
interactive media. Young people might not consciously reflect on their behaviour,
because they are not always aware of the place in time and consequences of their
actions. Our interviews with students for instance showed that young people use
interactive media in general without thinking about them as such, simply because
these media are available and have become part of their daily lives. We anticipated
on this situation by applying (new) techniques such as autodriving visual elicitation
and photo elicitation by means of 'moodboards'. In view of our results, these
techniques appear useful, although methodological questions remain. For instance,
the type of questions to be posed for each of these methods should be validated in
future work.
The characteristics of our survey data caused minor problems in the analyses.
The data showed that respondents engaged intensively in specific sets of interactive
media applications. The intensive use of these specific sets caused outliers in the
data that reduced the possibilities of generalisation. After all, most classification
methods, including factor analysis, presume a normal distribution in the data, which
166 ! Chapter 7
is disturbed by outliers. Obliging to this presumption by filtering outliers would
remove the typical characteristic of our data. Therefore, we removed extreme
outliers in order to reach a minimum level of normality, while preserving the
characteristics of our data set. Because other international studies show similar
general results (see for instance Eynon, 2010), the generalisability appears
acceptable.
5. Reflection on findings: Diversity as 'a new truth'?
Our hypothesis to find diversity in young people's interactive media practices is
supported by the results. I first reflect on categorisation and its value, after which I
go deeper into its risks.
The value of a categorisation is its affordance to distinguish practices that
seem different in nature. People will always look for some kind of grouping or
categorisation, which we saw in the qualitative study where students saw other
users as being different from themselves. This search for order results in social
structures and a grouping in (sub)-cultures. However, more important than the
labels, is the nuance that a categorisation of diversity brings in approaching students
in view of interactive media use. As both our survey study and our qualitative
studies show, students are not experienced and interested in all types of interactive
media.
Our results showed four types of interactive media users: Traditionalists,
Gamers, Networkers and Producers. Despite its value in understanding young
people's interactive media use, this categorisation is only an incitement for a more
detailed description of diversity among users.
The diversity found in this study is not a fixed reality. Influenced by
technological developments, user categories might change in the future. A recent
survey by PEW/Internet (Horrigan, 2009) showed that the former singular category
of networkers could be divided in several sub-categories as a result of for instance
media convergence. Because this change happened in only two years time, user
categorisations appear to be rather evanescent.
The diversity in activity types (interacting, interchanging, performing,
authoring) found in our studies appears to be more persistent. While reports show
different typologies of users, other studies show categorisations of activities similar
to ours (e.g. Eynon, 2010). It is the basic drive to participate, which Ito (2008)
distinguished as either interest-driven or friendship-driven that makes the activity
types in my opinion more persistent.
These critical remarks on diversity make it necessary to unravel the patterns
of interactive media use in future research. We could focus more on specific
characteristics of Gamers or Networkers by filtering them from the data. For
instance, the cluster analysis in the preliminary study and the CFA in the survey
showed gamers as one coherent group. However, applying factor analysis on the
filtered group of gamers showed this group to consist of two subgroups (casual
gamers and hardcore gamers), each with distinct characteristics such as preferences,
user intensity and opinions.
The diversity found in this thesis leads to a range of new questions. For
instance, the remarkably mundane use of respondents, which is confirmed in other
studies, raises the question where the ideas of extremely skilled users as assumed in
the net generation debate originated? How should these extreme skills be studied?
Should it require focus on specific activities or user groups, as we did with gamers in
chapter 5? Can this be done with Producers or Networkers as well?
Each categorisation can be seen as a binding model. Our categorisation in
users and activities is no exception. The responses to the many presentations I gave
to educators about the model showed that it was often received as a 'new truth'.
Educators wanted to know exactly how to determine students as a Gamer or
Networker, which learning style related to each user type and what the success
method was to stimulate these different users' in their learning. This reaction
contrasts with the primary aim of this study was to bring nuance regarding
assertions of homogeneity. However, labels in general are volatile in a changing
world, where media hypes come and go. Therefore, the diversity among students
discussed in this thesis, should not be seen as a new truth but instead perceived as
pointers for future research or as prime point for educational development.
6. Suggestions for future research
Answers generate a perpetuous stream of new questions. In research, questions can
result from findings or from the applied approach and methods. Below we discuss
the main questions that appeared as recurring themes in this thesis.
Because we wanted to focus on the cultural aspect, it appeared obvious to
examine the existence of sub-cultures among young interactive media users.
168 ! Chapter 7
However, the 'classic' cultural studies method was not fully applicable. We 'mapped'
groups of different interactive media users who showed specific combinations of
activities, preferences and opinions. However, we did not find evidence for the
existence of sub-cultures. The groups of users we found appeared to be based on
temporary informal affinities, such as for instance gamers who play online games.
Thus, we described these groups of young interactive media users as participating in
networks of practitioners rather than being members of distinctive sub-cultures. It
appears that the 'classic' cultural studies approach, with an emphasis on 'formal'
grouping including dress codes and attitudes, is less useful for investigating young
people's relation to interactive media. In this respect, we tried a new method with
moodboards in our qualitative study. This appeared to be fruitful; however, research
is needed to validate this method.
The tension between global and local aspects of interactive media practices
was brought up and analysed to a certain degree in the discussion of reflexivity and
motives for interactive media use. This tension can be examined to a larger extent,
for instance by using the theoretical approaches of Poster (2006) and Hermans &
Hermans-Konopka (2009) as a perspective. These approaches relate 'glocalization' to
the process of identity development of individuals related to their use of (interactive)
media. Another important aspect for future research would be to elaborate on the
local issues and needs in education in view of the global character of interactive
media as discussed in this thesis.
The convergence in media causes research to become more difficult. A
question such as 'how often do you play games' becomes obsolete with games
available on all thinkable platforms and applications, often disguised as social
network activity, such as Farmville on Facebook. This convergence however, should
be given a decent place in research. The convergence itself, as part of what Jenkins
calls a 'convergence culture' (Jenkins, 2006), fits in the image of late modernity where
people are required to actively develop a reflexive attitude. Reflexivity has in this
sense defined 'interactivity'. As Lister and colleagues (2005) argue, the abundance of
choice in our society causes us to expect the same kind of choice from interactive
media. This abundance of choice is related to instant gratification. For instance,
young people appear to be in favour of video on demand instead of watching
television programmes on a fixed time and date. In this respect it is interesting to
note that in the era of television, instant gratification was seen as a bad habit
(Postman, 1986).
In this thesis we discussed consequences for education of interactive media
use. However, we did neither examine motives for learning with interactive media
nor its effectiveness. What are possible relations between the found diversity and
students' behaviour in class? How effective can interactive media as learning tools
be? Related questions deal with for instance cognitive aspects, learning preferences
or motivation. Irrespective of these questions, research has stressed the importance
of some initial conditions for using interactive media as effective learning tools. For
instance, it is necessary that the type of tool fits with the educational situation,
including the student's domain-knowledge, the educational level, the teachers’
guidance and the assignment complexity (Ainsworth, 2006; De Jong, Eysink, & Van
Merriënboer, 2010; Eysink, De Jong, Berthold, Kollofel, Opfermann, & Wouters,
2009). Furthermore, in the literature we found one study exploring the connection
between learning preferences and achievements in web-based learning. Wang and
colleagues (2006) showed that learning style is a significant factor affecting student
achievement in a Web-based learning environment. Thinking otherwise, we could
investigate whether and how education influences behaviour outside school. For
instance, do students apply methods of reasoning or researching learned at school
when they judge interactive media content in their free time? Eynon (2010) shows
that formal contexts of education play an important role in supporting the use of
Internet outside school. This means that education should not only consider the
application of interactive media as learning tools, but also should invest in webliteracy (see also Kuiper, 2007; Hargittai, 2010). These results can be extended by
relating them to the types of interactive media use discerned in this thesis.
It is desirable to investigate the questions raised here by employing a mixed
methods approach consisting of for instance large-scale qualitative and longitudinal
methods of investigation and advanced methods of analysis such as multilevel
modelling. Qualitative research, especially when it is large-scale, deepens the
understanding of practices as Ito and colleagues have shown (2008). Longitudinal
studies make it possible to interpret tendencies and prevent results to be perceived
as new truth. Finally, multilevel modelling acknowledges the fact that the behaviour
170 ! Chapter 7
of humans is always influenced by other humans. However, the desire for this
combination of methods is an often-heard call in the social sciences.
Taken together, future research should be aware of a) an existing diversity in
interactive media practices among students, b) the changing nature of this diversity
influenced by technological developments, and c) the interactive media expertise
and preferences that students bring to class. However, these points of attention do
not necessarily imply a possible application of interactive media as learning tools,
because student characteristics, such as an attitude of 'trial & error' required in
games, can also be addressed in more traditional assignments. More research in this
respect is needed to be able to effectively apply interactive media as learning tools in
relation to diversity.
Our interdisciplinary theoretical approach, combined with mixed methods of
analysis, resulted in theory driven empirical research that provided a comprehensive
image of patterns in young people's interactive media practices. As such this thesis
contributes to an informed and critical debate about interactive media and learning.
It follows that this debate requires a wider scope than the current net generation
debate and should be based on sound empirical results. The dynamic exchange
between youth culture, interactive media and learning, in the context of daily lives,
politics, economics and culture, should be its main concern. It is desirable that
researchers and practitioners in the fields of media studies, sociology and
educational science provide active input to the debate. The results of empirical
studies published since 2009 replaced key concepts of the net generation debate such
as homogeneity, generation and skillfulness, with a general image of diversity and
mundane use. The critical debate should however transcend beyond 'it is diversity'
and examine youth's interactive media use in a larger context. This for instance
occurs currently in the field of networked learning, where the focus is on human
capacities, rather than the possible existence of a net generation.
7. Reflection on implications for education
The discussion in this thesis of possible consequences of diversity in interactive
media use is important because despite the growing body of knowledge, there are
still educators and policy makers who speak of a 'generation issue' and who describe
young people as extremely skillful 'digital natives' (see for instance Levine, 2010). As
Selwyn (2010) and others argued, the fact remains that interactive media are not
used widely by youths in the ways that proponents imagine. The majority of
interactive media use involves little more than checking in on social networking sites
and playing an occasional game. The vast majority of Internet users have never
heard of FourSquare, Tumblr or Flickr. Moreover, people’s engagement with
interactive media remains differentiated along lines of social class, as well as gender
and educational background (Eynon 2010, Hargittai & Walejko 2008). It would
therefore be a mistake to presume that all interactive media use can be educationally
productive for all students. As already stressed, further research is needed to
examine the actual employment of interactive media in relation to the diversity of
interactive media users and student characteristics such as learning preferences.
There is one type of interactive media that might be educationally productive for a
large range of students: digital games. Games in education have also appeared to
inspire many stakeholders such as educators and researchers. A quick search in the
ERIC database showed over 300 articles published in the last five years that discuss
and examine games in education. However, enthusiasm of youths and educators for
games should not be confused with effectiveness of games in an educational context.
In the next section I will give a first reflection on the use of games in education,
taking into account the findings discussed in this thesis.
8. Ingredients for implementation: considering games as learning
tools.
Considering the employment of games as learning tools in view of the results
presented in this thesis requires a number of points to be taken into account. The
points presented below are meant as propagating points of attention for games in
educational contexts, instead of as the next fixed model. They can be applied as
lenses in the selection, development and application of games in education. The aim
is to contribute to a critical discussion about games as learning tools by relating
gamedesign principles to learning theory.
First, the application of games in education is questioned by, amongst others,
Squire (2002), who for instance refers to research on transfer, which gives little
reason to believe that players are developing skills that are useful outside the game
context. Furthermore Squire argues that there needs to be a close match among
desired learning outcomes, available technology and teacher support, student
172 ! Chapter 7
characteristics, gameplay, and potential additional learning experiences. De Jong
and colleagues (2010) showed that this counts for all interactive learning tools.
Several meta-studies showed that generally students performed neither better nor
worse after playing games compared to traditional methods (Wentworth & Lewis,
1973; Clegg, 1991).
Second, despite the enthusiasm for games outside school, the respondents in
our qualitative study were not explicitly keen on games as learning tools. This is an
important fact that requires a more thorough examination focused on background
factors and origins of this attitude.
Third, although most students occasionally play (small) digital games, only a
small percentage of our respondents, categorised as 'Gamers', play (large) games
regularly and intensively. This difference between students indicates that games to
be applied in education, should address the occasional gamers with simple
gameplay and the hardcore gamers with challenging content.
Fourth, a general view on games as learning tools is yet to crystallize. Despite
the efforts of a small group of researchers and educators (Shaffer, Squire, Halverson,
& Gee, 2005; Squire, 2008; Barab, Thomas, Dodge, Carteaux, & Tuzun, 2005; Annetta,
2008), many studies present exemplary studies that mainly approach games as a
'black box' by discussing the inspiring effect on students or the learning
effectiveness. However, as science and technology studies show, in order to
understand the meaning of a technology for society, the black box should be opened
(Bijker, Hughes & Pinch, 1987).
On the other hand, game and play have important functions in learning
players how to behave in society. For instance, Huizinga (1952) develops an
historical perspective that shows the confirmation of social structures in for instance
courtrooms or classrooms by means of play and games.
Furthermore, good games address players on their individual level of
learning and solving problems. Good games allow players to choose their own
course through the gameworld. However, people's manners of choosing a course,
and therefore solving problems and challenges, follow fixed patterns (Canossa &
Drachen, 2009). These patterns might be related to specific orientations to learning
(see Boekaerts & Simons (2010) for a discussion of motives and motivations for
learning). There are two different ways people respond to challenges. Some people
see them as opportunities to perform - to demonstrate their talent or intellect. Others
see them as opportunities to master - to improve their skill or knowledge (Dweck,
1986). While a performance orientation improves motivation for easy challenges, it
drastically reduces it for difficult ones. And since most work worth doing is difficult,
it is the mastery orientation that appears to be correlated with academic and
professional success, as well as self-esteem and long-term happiness. This also
means that the patterns show the level of professional skills, provided the game
mechanics are focused on this. This would imply that when games are applied to
learn, for instance a language or mathemathics, and when the diversity among
students found in our results is acknowledged these games should be single player.
In order to elaborate on this conclusion, I will first go back to the origins of
interactive media and subsequently relate these to a perspective on learning.
The concept of interactive media, originally labelled 'hypertext', was
developed by two different people who take two views on the user: an individual or
a member of a community (see also Bardini, 1997 and Lister, et al., 2005). Engelbart
saw the future use of interactive media as enabling free association. Nelson on the
other hand, approached hypertext as a possible tool for connection with a
community, which is related to collaboratively (in a network) creating a guided
association.
These two aspects of interactive media, the individual free association and the
collaborative-guided association resonate with an approach to learning as expressed
by Sfard (1989). Sfard discusses two main metaphors found in education: the
metaphor of acquisition and the metaphor of participation. Acquisition is related to
more traditional ways of teaching where an individual has to acquire knowledge
and skills. Association and receiving are among the characteristics of this metaphor.
Participation on the other hand is related to active learning together with and from
peers.
The binaries of association versus connection and acquisition versus
participation are related to the distinction between individual and community. Sfard
argues that education should opt for a combination of acquisition and participation,
which I perceive as that learning in educational contexts should proceed in balanced
waves of individual acquisition and groupwise participation. These balanced waves
would imply a broader learning context in which games address the individual
acquisition while taking into account the diversity in interactive media experiences
174 ! Chapter 7
and preferences of students. In order to understand how the diversity among
students can be addressed, the black box of the game has to be opened.
Opening up the black box of digital games shows three main parts:
mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics (Hunicke, LeBlanc, & Zubek, 2006). The
mechanics are the procedures that define the player's assignment. Game mechanics
usually have a form such as 'find ways to collect all tokens without getting caught by
opponents'. This resembles the learning goals in a course or curriculum module. The
dynamics of a game define how the goal should be reached, which resembles the
form of a learning assignment. An important aspect of dynamics are feedback loops:
the player needs to know where he is, what his short time goals are and what the
general purpose of the game is. Good games provide all this information anytime
during gameplay. However, hardcore gamers are more experienced in assessing this
information compared to non-gamers or casual gamers. Game aesthetics provide a
certain experience or emotion, such as fellowship, dramatic tension or happiness.
This of course resembles the context for assignments. A synergy between mechanics,
dynamics and aesthetics allows a designer or teacher to direct the player through the
environment and thus shape the acquisition, regardless of his former interactive
media experience.
Clegg argues that the educational context that envelops gaming is a more
important predictor of learning than the game itself. "Specifically, how the game is
contextualized, the kinds of cooperative and collaborative learning activities
embedded in gameplay, and the quality and nature of debriefing are all critically
important elements of the gaming experience" (Squire, 2002). This would plea for a
metagame of which the digital game is only a part. As part of a metagame digital
games can contribute to the growth of students' epistemic frames (Shaffer, 2006)
because they can uncover patterns of thought. The metagame gives space for
individual acquisition by means of the digital game and it gives space for groupwise
'participation' in the world outside. I regard investigating metagames very
significant for future research on the application of interactive media as learning
tools. Central to this research should be the diversity in interactive media practices
among students.
9. Conclusion
The important diversity found in young people's interactive media practices is the
main message of this thesis. Further research on this diversity is needed, especially
from a longitudinal perspective. Sociologically, we need to study the extent to which
these differences resemble sub-cultures. In view of media studies, we need to
elaborate on the difference between friendship-driven and interest-driven participation.
From the perspective of educational sciences, these investigations should start from
the concept of a learning ecology. Educators and schools should be aware of the fact
that students learn outside of schools as well, and that the interactive media
experiences, preferences and identities developed there should be taken into
account. Since the diversity in practices seems to develop under the influence of
technological progress, simple solutions are not possible. In the consideration of
consequences for education of this diversity, it is important to a) acknowledge the
development in this diversity among students and b) address students' interactive
media experiences and preferences with tailor made assignments, or broad learning
contexts, regardless of the application of interaction media.
176 ! Chapter 7
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Samenvatting in het Nederlands
!
182 ! Samenvatting in het Nederlands
Aan het begin van de 21e eeuw toonden journalisten, wetenschappers en docenten
grote belangstelling voor het gebruik van internet en games onder jongeren. In
boeken en journalistieke en wetenschappelijke artikelen werden de mogelijke
gevolgen van dit gebruik besproken. Vaak werden deze mogelijke gevolgen
gekoppeld aan de toekomst van leren en het onderwijs. De boeken en artikelen
droegen bij aan een discussie die bekend werd als het 'Netgeneratie-debat'. Dit debat
startte in 1998, toen de term 'Net generation' werd bedacht.
Door het Netgeneratie-debat gingen docenten nadenken over de toepassing
van internet en games als leermiddel. Vaak werd het debat ook geïnterpreteerd als
een oproep tot radicale onderwijsvernieuwing. Deze interpretatie was gebaseerd op
de aanname dat door hun intensieve gebruik van interactieve media, jongeren
anders zouden gaan denken en leren dan voorgaande generaties. Soms werd zelfs
geclaimd dat de hersenen van jongeren zouden veranderen door het intensieve
gebruik van interactieve media.
De publicaties in het Netgeneratie-debat bestonden zelden uit grootschalige
empirische studies waarin onderzoek werd gedaan naar het feitelijke gebruik van
interactieve media, de mogelijke gevolgen hiervan of de sociale achtergronden van
jongeren. Desondanks werden de resultaten van deze onderzoeken door journalisten
en docenten op grote schaal overgenomen. Dit leidde ertoe dat docenten en
beleidsmakers problemen voorzagen in het aanspreken en uitdagen van toekomstige
leerlingen en studenten. Zo werd in beleidsplannen van een aantal Nederlandse
hogescholen gesteld dat studenten vanaf 2010 op een andere manier benaderd
zouden moeten worden als gevolg van hun vaardig en ervaren gebruik van
interactieve media.
Het ontbreken van empirische gegevens, gecombineerd met de grote
belangstelling onder docenten, maakte het zinvol om in een promotie-onderzoek
aandacht te besteden aan het gebruik van interactieve media onder hedendaagse
jongeren. Dit proefschrift heeft daarom als doel om een wetenschappelijke
beschouwing te geven op de relatie tussen jongeren en interactieve media in het
perspectief van mogelijke gevolgen voor het onderwijs. In deze beschouwing leggen
we de nadruk op het huidig gebruik van interactieve media onder jongeren en de
mogelijke gevolgen van dit gebruik voor onderwijs. We combineren deze nadruk
met een kritische houding ten aanzien van de toepassing van interactieve media als
leermiddel in het onderwijs.
Samenvatting in het Nederlands ! 183
De centrale vraag voor deze dissertatie is als volgt geformuleerd: Hoe gebruiken
jongeren interactieve media in de hedendaagse Westerse samenleving? In deze
vraagstelling omvat 'gebruik' de frequentie van gebruik, het type interactieve media
activiteiten, alsmede de meningen en motieven die met dit gebruik samenhangen.
We verwachtten diversiteit onder jongeren te vinden met betrekking tot het
repertoire van ervaringen, verhalen, programma's en manieren om problemen aan te
pakken in relatie tot interactieve media. Wanneer een groep mensen een dergelijk
repertoire deelt, wordt dat ook wel gezien als een 'praktijk ('practice', zie Wenger,
1998). De diversiteit in interactieve media praktijken kan beschreven worden in
termen van bronnen, achtergronden, motieven en patronen. Deze aspecten volgen
uit het idee dat mensen zich op een natuurlijke manier organiseren in netwerken van
gelijkgestemden. In deze netwerken leren mensen door middel van 'participatie'
('participation', zie Lavé & Wenger, 1991), wat vervolgens leidt tot een natuurlijke
ontwikkeling van praktijken. We verwachtten dat deze ontwikkeling van praktijken
resulteert in een groepering van a) interactieve media en b) meningen en voorkeuren
gerelateerd aan deze media. Vervolgens verwachtten we ook dat deze groepering
beïnvloed zou worden door vrienden en familie en door achtergrondfactoren als
onderwijsniveau en geslacht. Om dit te onderzoeken formuleerden we een aantal
deelvragen, waarbij iedere vraag de basis vormde voor een studie in deze dissertatie.
Als eerste wilden we weten hoe jongeren ertoe komen om interactieve media te
gaan gebruiken: Wat motiveert jongeren in de hedendaagse Westerse samenleving om
interactieve media te gebruiken? Vervolgens gebruikten we de gevonden motieven als
perspectief om het bestaan van diversiteit in het feitelijke gebruik van interactieve
media te onderzoeken: Kunnen patronen gevonden worden in het gebruik van en in de
meningen over interactieve media onder jongeren? Hierna onderzochten we de
achtergrondfactoren die bijdragen aan de gevonden diversiteit: Hoe dragen
achtergrondfactoren en meningen bij aan de intensiteit in interactieve media gebruik?
Tenslotte hebben we met het geheel van motieven, patronen en achtergrondfactoren
de bronnen van interactieve media gebruik onder jongeren onderzocht: Wat is de
oorsprong van diversiteit in interactieve media gebruik?
Uit het onderzoek ontstond een beeld van het gebruik van interactieve media
onder jongeren. Dit beeld vormt de wetenschappelijke relevantie voor dit
proefschrift. Dit proefschrift past daarmee in een groeiend aantal empirische studies
over jongeren en hun gebruik van interactieve media. Echter, de meerwaarde van dit
proefschrift ligt in de diversiteit aan analysemethoden die zijn toegepast op een
grote onderzoekspopulatie bestaande uit leerlingen afkomstig uit een brede
leeftijdsgroep en diverse onderwijs niveaus.
De praktische relevantie van deze studie komt voort uit de analyse van
mogelijke gevolgen voor het onderwijs in het licht van de deelvragen. Hedendaagse
studenten en leerlingen brengen hun kennis van en ervaring met interactieve media
en hun sociale netwerken mee naar school. Om het onderwijs hierop aan te laten
sluiten moeten docenten en onderwijskundigen kennis hebben van het dagelijks
leven van jongeren zoals dat wordt gevormd door hun gebruik van interactieve
media.
We voerden ons onderzoek uit op het grensvlak van drie disciplines: sociologie,
(interactieve) media studies en onderwijskunde. Het combineren van deze drie
disciplines leverde meerwaarde omdat we op deze manier de onderzoeksvragen
konden beantwoorden in termen van zowel gebruik van interactieve media, als de
daarmee samenhangende meningen en voorkeuren, als de mogelijke gevolgen van
dit gebruik voor het onderwijs.
In de eerste studie bespraken we de aannames uit het Netgeneratie-debat en
hun plaats in de literatuur. De belangrijkste aanname in dit debat is het bestaan van
een nieuwe generatie leerlingen die anders is dan eerdere generaties met betrekking
tot het gebruik van interactieve media. Wij bekritiseerden deze aanname door het
huidige gedrag van jongeren te plaatsen in het kader van de hedendaagse laatmoderne samenleving. Met het concept van de laat-moderne samenleving als
beginpunt, formuleerden we onze onderzoeksvraag over de motieven voor
interactieve media gebruik. Deze vraag beantwoordden we door het bespreken van
de richtinggevende begrippen ('sensitizing concepts', zie Blumer, 1954) 'onveiligheid'
('insecurity', zie Giddens, 1993), reflexiviteit ('reflexivity', zie Giddens, 1993), en
ruimtes van verbondenheid ('affinity spaces', zie Gee, 2004). Met behulp van deze
begrippen konden we begrijpen hoe in de hedendaagse samenleving het menselijk
gedrag beïnvloed wordt door een krachtenveld tussen traditie en vernieuwing. We
concludeerden dat jongeren interactieve media in toenemende mate gebruiken om
hun sociale ruimte ('social space', zie Bourdieu, 1984) en culturele ruimte ('cultural
space', zie Elchardus & Glorieux, 2002) vorm te geven. Deze specifieke toepassing
beschouwen wij als de sociale en culturele functies van interactieve media.
Vervolgens concludeerden we dat vervolgonderzoek zich zou moeten toeleggen op
zowel de motieven voor interactieve media gebruik, alsook het gebruik zelf.
In de tweede studie, gepresenteerd in hoofdstuk 3, toonden we de eerste resultaten
van een empirisch onderzoek naar het gebruik van interactieve media onder
jongeren. Omdat menselijk gedrag binnen beperkte grenzen tot variaties leidt,
verwachtten we een patroon te vinden in het interactieve media gebruik onder
jongeren. We onderzochten het bestaan van deze patronen met een survey onder 181
Nederlandse leerlingen tussen 10 en 23 jaar en afkomstig van een groot aantal
onderwijsniveaus. Met behulp van clusteranalyse onderscheidden we vier groepen
van gebruikers, namelijk Traditionalisten, Gamers, Netwerkers en Producenten. We
vonden ook vier typen gebruik van interactieve media, namelijk consumeren,
spelen, uitwisselen en creëren. Met deze beschrijving van gebruikers en gebruik
verkregen we een genuanceerd beeld van de zogenoemde 'Netgeneratie'. De
resultaten waren dusdanig interessant, dat we het onderzoek herhaald hebben met
een grotere groep Nederlandse leerlingen en studenten.
Het vervolgonderzoek, gepresenteerd in hoofdstuk 4, bespreekt patronen in het
gebruik van interatieve media gecombineerd met meningen en voorkeuren over
deze media. We onderzochten deze patronen met een survey onder 2138 leerlingen
en studenten tussen 9 en 23 jaar en afkomstig van alle opleidingsniveaus tussen
basisschool en hbo. Met behulp van confirmatieve factor analyse vonden we
wederom vier categorieën van gebruik: interacteren, uitwisselen, spelen en creëren.
De categorie 'interacteren' omvat de traditionele internetactiviteiten gericht op het
consumeren en uitwisselen van informatie, zoals e-mail versturen, over het web
surfen, informatie zoeken en MSN gebruiken. De categorie 'uitwisselen' bestaat uit
allerlei soorten van sociale-netwerkactiviteiten. De categorie 'spelen' bestaat uit
games en gerelateerde toepassingen waarbij gebruikers een rol spelen op een
virtueel toneel. De laatste categorie, 'creëren', bestaat uit activiteiten die te maken
hebben met de productie van interactieve media inhoud.
Vervolgens hebben we met clusteranalyse vier categorieën gebruikers
gevonden die vergelijkbaar zijn met de voorgaande studie. Er is een groep
basisgebruikers die voornamelijk met 'interacteren' bezig zijn. We noemden hen
'Traditionalisten'. We vonden ook een kleine groep die relatief intensief gebruik
maakt van alle soorten interactieve media activiteiten. We noemden hen
'Producenten'. Vervolgens vonden we twee groepen die op een doorsnee manier de
techniek gebruiken. Een groep noemden we 'Gamers'. Deze groep heeft een
voorkeur voor het spelen van games. En de andere groep, 'Netwerkers', heeft een
voorkeur voor 'uitwisselen'. Alle groepen verschillen significant van elkaar in het
gebruik van soorten interactieve media, hoewel ze allemaal intensief gebruik maken
van de traditionele interactieve media. De gevonden diversiteit toont docenten dat
voorzichtigheid gewenst is bij de toepassing van interactieve media als leermiddel.
De gegevens verzameld in de survey studie hebben we in hoofdstuk 5 vervolgens
verder geanalyseerd met behulp van multilevel analyse. Op deze manier hebben we
de achtergronden van het interactieve media gebruik van jongeren bestudeerd op
het niveau van leerling, klas en school. De resultaten toonden dat de intensiteit in
interactieve media activiteiten varieert onder invloed van geslacht, begeleiding door
ouders, het bezit van apparatuur en voorkeuren voor specieke interactieve media.
Opleidingsniveau bleek niet van invloed te zijn.
Nadat het gebruik van interactieve media in kaart was gebracht, inclusief
bijbehorende achtergrondfactoren, keken we in hoofdstuk 6 naar de oorzaken van
het gebruik. Met behulp van een kwalitatief onderzoek onder elf middelbare school
leerlingen onderzochten we hoe de interesse voor bepaalde soorten interactieve
media ontstaat. Tevens onderzochten we hoe jongeren hun eigen gebruik ervaren in
relatie tot anderen. We pasten hierbij drie methoden toe. Allereerst voerden we
semi-gestructureerde interviews, waarbij slechts basisthema's vooraf werden
bedacht en het verloop van het gesprek door de leerling werd bepaald. Tevens lieten
we de leerlingen vertellen over hun gebruik van interactieve media door ze op een
computer hun favoriete sites of games te laten tonen. Tenslotte hebben we de
leerlingen 'moodboards' getoond van alle vier de soorten interactieve media
gebruikers. Hierbij werden de leerlingen gevraagd wat voor soort mensen dit
volgens hen waren en hoe ze zichzelf ten opzichte van die mensen zagen.
De resultaten toonden dat naaste vrienden en familie ('peers') van belang zijn
bij het ontstaan van belangstelling voor specifieke soorten interactieve media.
Vervolgens leren jongeren deze media te gebruiken door zelf uit te proberen, door
informatie te 'Googelen' of door vrienden om hulp te vragen. Ondanks dat de
ondervraagde leerlingen geen duidelijk beeld van hun eigen 'interactieve media
identiteit' konden geven, waren ze goed in staat om de programma's, identiteiten en
praktijken van andere interactieve media gebruikers te geven. Ondanks dat
sommige leerlingen positief denken over de inzet van interactieve media in het
onderwijs, gaven ze allemaal aan dit te willen combineren met projecten en uitleg
door docenten.
In het laatste hoofdstuk van dit proefschrift keek ik terug op het onderzoek. Ik deed
dit door te reflecteren op de theoretische benadering, de toegepaste methodes, de
resultaten, openstaande vragen voor toekomstig onderzoek en de betekenis voor het
onderwijs van deze studie. Bij dit laatste onderdeel ging ik dieper in op de
toepassing van games als leermiddel.
De theoretische benadering bestond uit een samenspel van sociologie, media
studies en onderwijskunde. Deze benadering maakte het mogelijk om het fenomeen
van interactieve media praktijken onder jongeren van verschillende kanten
tegelijkertijd te bekijken en te beschrijven. Naast een interdisciplinaire theoretische
benadering is een combinatie van methoden gebruikt om de verzamelde data te
analyseren. Ik kwam tot de conclusie dat deze methoden bijgedragen hebben aan
een gerichte exploratie van het interactieve media gebruik onder jongeren.
Vervolgens benadrukte ik dat de resultaten in dit proefschrift niet als nieuwe
alomvattende waarheid gezien moeten worden, maar slechts als richtinggevend
voor het nadenken over de toepassing van interactieve media in het onderwijs. De
resultaten zijn namelijk aan verandering onderhevig, als gevolg van technische
ontwikkelingen en de ontwikkeling in het gebruik van interactieve media. De
reflectie op theorie, methoden en resultaten, leidde tot een overzicht van
openstaande vragen en suggesties voor verder onderzoek. Zo besprak ik de in het
sociaal wetenschappelijk domein vaak gehoorde oproep tot meer onderzoek,
kwalitatief
onderzoek
en
longitudinaal
onderzoek.
Daarnaast
kwamen
belangwekkende thema's aan de orde zoals de convergentie van media, het bestaan
van subculturen onder jonge interactieve media gebruikers en de effectiviteit van
interactieve media in een onderwijscontext. Tot slot van het reflectiehoofdstuk keek
ik naar de betekenis voor het onderwijs van dit onderzoek. Ik kwam daarbij tot de
conclusie dat deze studie past in een groeiende stroom van onderzoek die steeds
genuanceerder het gebruik van interactieve media onder jongeren beschrijft. Dit
geeft de onderwijspraktijk aanknopingspunten om de inzet van deze media als
leermiddel gericht te overdenken. Om het onderwijs hierbij verder van dienst te zijn
presenteer ik een aantal criteria die van belang zijn bij de ontwikkeling en selectie
van games als leermiddel.
De gevonden diversiteit in het interactieve media gebruik van jongeren is de
belangrijkste boodschap van dit proefschrift. Vervolgonderzoek, met name vanuit
een longitudinaal perspectief is noodzakelijk. Hierbij is het van belang te bestuderen
hoe de gevonden diversiteit samenhangt met jeugdsubculturen. Daarnaast is het van
belang de drijfveren voor gebruik verder te analyseren. Dit onderzoek dient te
beginnen bij de idee dat jongeren in hun dagelijks leven terechtkomen in veel
verschillende leefwerelden waarin ze altijd leren. Dit betekent dat docenten en
scholen moeten beseffen dat leerlingen ook buiten school leren en dus rekening
moeten houden met de buiten school opgedane ervaringen, voorkeuren en
identiteiten. Het is hierbij van belang dat docenten a) rekening houden met de
ontwikkeling van diversiteit onder studenten en b) de ervaringen en voorkeuren van
studenten aanspreken met op-maat opdrachten of brede leercontexten, al dan niet
met toepassing van interactieve media.
Referenties
Blumer, H. (1954). What is Wrong with Social Theory. American Sociological Review,
19, 3-10.
Routledge.
Gee, J.P. (2004). Situated Language and Learning: A critique of traditional schooling. New
York: Routledge.
Lavé, J. and Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Curriculum Vitae ! 191
Curriculum Vitae
Antoine van den Beemt was born on December 24th 1967 in Breda (The
Netherlands). In 1988 he completed his secondary schooling at the Mencia de
Mendoza lyceum in Breda. He graduated in Sociology at Tilburg University in 1994.
His thesis discussed social action in virtual environments. During his undergraduate
program Antoine was member of several university councils, editor of a studentjournal and chairman of the Tilburg Sociology Students Association (Versot). He
studied in the United States at North Western State University, Louisiana, and did
research on CSCW at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. In 1995 he
received his master's degree in Science & Technology Studies from Maastricht
University. His master's thesis focused on the role of theory in the practice of
interface design.
Since 1995 Antoine has been studying youths and their use of interactive media
for leisure and learning. He did this as a teacher at Utrecht School of Arts and Avans
University of Applied Sciences, as a researcher at Tilburg University and as a
consultant and developer of interactive media.
In 2006 Antoine started his PhD project on youth culture, interactive media and
learning. He presented his work during numerous seminars and workshops and at
both national (ORD, Nationaal e-Learning Congres, Nationaal Onderwijs Congres)
and international conferences (EARLI/PBPR, JURE, NLC).
Currently Antoine works at Fontys University of Applied Sciences. His
research focuses on the relation between learning and young people's interactive
media use.
Publications ! 193
Publications
Articles in international peer-reviewed journals
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (2010). The use of interactive
Vol 26, 1158-1165. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.022
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (2010). Considering young
10.1016/j.edurev.2010.06.002
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (2010). Patterns of interactive
media use among contemporary youth. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning.
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (in press). Pathways in
interactive media practices among young people. Learning, Media and
Technology.
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., Den Brok, P., & Simons, P.R.J. (2010). Student
characteristics contributing to interactive media use. Manuscript submitted for
publication
Conference papers
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (2007, November). What happens
outside the classroom? Paper presented at the Earli PBPR conference, Maastricht,
The Netherlands.
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S. , & Simons, P.R.J. (2008, June). How do young people
use interactive media? Paper presented at the Onderwijs Research Dagen
(Educational Research Conference), Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S. , & Simons, P.R.J. (2009, August). Patterns of
interactive media usage among today’s youth: Results of a survey. Paper presented at
the JURE/EARLI conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
194 ! Publications
Conference papers (cont'd)
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S. , & Simons, P.R.J. (2010). Diversity in interactive
media use among Dutch youth. In: Dirckinck-Holmfeld L, Hodgson V, Jones C,
McConnell D & Ryberg T (Eds.) Proceedings of the 7th International conference
on Networked Learning. May 2010, Aalborg, Denmark.
Book reviews
Van den Beemt, A. (2008). Mark Poster - Information Please [Review of the book
Information please: Culture and politics in the age of digital machines]. Visual
Studies, Vol. 23, No. 1, April 2008
Poster presentations
Van den Beemt, A. (2007, October). What happens outside the classroom? Poster
presented at Fontys conference Research and Education, The Netherlands
Reports
Van den Beemt, A., Akkerman, S., & Simons, P.R.J. (2009). Jongeren en interactieve
media: diversiteit in het gebruik van interactieve media onder jongeren. [Youth and
interactive media: diversity in the use of interactive media among young
people] Zoetermeer: Kennisnet.

Interactive Media Practices of Young People

Transcription

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