Digital skills critical for education: Video analysis of students' technology use in Norwegian secondary English classrooms

Abstract

Background: Globally, digital skills are a crucial aspect of education that schoolsshould develop systematically. Research on digital skills tends to be measured usingself-reports, performance tests or interventions. There is less knowledge about stu-dent and teacher uptake of technology in school, making it important to investigatethe actual use of technology and digital skills in authentic classroom settings. Objectives:This study contributes unique baseline data concerning students' use oftechnology and digital skills across mandatory English courses in real classroom set-tings in secondary schools in Norway over time. Methods:The study adapted a national framework for digital skills into an observa-tion protocol. With it, this study analysed videos from 60 naturally occurring Englishlessons in 13 English classes at seven lower secondary schools over two school years(grades 9 and 10), following 186 students (aged 13–15) and 10 teachers. Results and Conclusions:Students used digital skills critical for education in half ofthe video-recorded English lessons, with more digital skill use at some schools overtime. The main finding across classrooms and school years regards students' use ofbasic, not advanced, digital skills. Takeaways:Although teachers provide opportunities for students to use digital skillsin school, more advanced skills are needed. This work calls for continued use of videorecordings to provide systematic comparisons of potential shifts in students' digitalskills in real English secondary classroom settings over time.