Digital Interaction: Learning and Social Communication in the Information Age

Schools and governments are increasingly spending large sums of money on digital and interactive technologies for teachers, students, and classrooms. In this chapter a literature review will be used to show that the impact of these technologies is multifaceted. It is argued that educators in the 21 st century need to be cognizant of the quality of digital interaction and aware of undesirable effects that have been linked to the use of different technologies. As Lei (2010) argued, which technology is used and how it is used are more significant factors in influencing positive student outcomes. Focusing just on the degree to which technology is used in a classroom is unlikely to improve academic outcomes.