Stories of digital lives: Teacher-student relationships in secondary classrooms and digital spaces

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: This qualitative teacher research study employed narrative inquiry to answer its primary research question: How do secondary teachers and students make connections using digital online media? Interviews, focus groups, internet artifacts, and other demographic data were used in this interpretivist study. The open coding data analysis method revealed themes that were used to select participants' stories to be re-storied into narratives in order to provide a more in-depth analysis.

Findings and Conclusions: The teacher and student participants utilized a variety of digital media technologies to connect in the classroom and online. Teachers used internet, online video, mobile phones, and social media networks to support their classroom lessons and to engage students in the learning process beyond the time and space boundaries of school. Teachers felt online digital availability would increase student learning and engagement inside the classroom. Students' media use was more social and relationship-driven.

Teacher-student relationships began in classrooms and then extended into digital spaces. Students conveyed curiosity and fear towards socializing with teachers in digital spaces, while teachers seemed uncomfortable with purely social online interactions with students. Both groups struggled to break the boundaries established around teachers' private and professional lives.