textbooks, working on paper, etc.) emerged as a second theme from the data tied to the first research question. The majority of participants discussed this area. All three data sources
(journals, interviews, and the focus group) revealed this theme. I recorded 19 notes in the coding process. Five of the interviewees referenced this theme, and it appeared in one of the written journal responses. The theme also appeared in three instances in the focus group transcription.
Mostly, the thoughts centered on questions as to whether one form of learning is better than the other, or questions about whether purely digital learning lacks some quality of learning that is inherent to print learning. Participants also expressed concern over the lack of disconnect between education and entertainment that digital learning tended to create.
Disconnect between education and entertainment. Participants expressed concern over children learning primarily on digital devices because it left them feeling disconnected from what was being studied. When students previously completed the majority of schoolwork with print materials, parents felt they had more visibility with regard to what their children were doing. The disconnect, or lack of transparency, also caused parents concern because they were unable to determine if students were working on homework or spending time on activities not related to school—a phenomenon that did not occur when learning was done predominantly with paper. Parents were unable to discern quickly exactly what their children were doing. Deborah summed up this feeling when she said,
I mentioned before, without having an actual school book in front of her, there was no way for us to know what she was working on, and if it was school work at all, surfing
Pinterest™, or talking to friends, etc.
Miriam described this phenomenon as a “disconnect.” She said, “I think it makes me feel a little disconnected from what they’re learning, because I don’t see as much tangible evidence of what they’re learning. So, they don’t bring anything home. I don’t see papers. I don’t see drawings.”
This lack of visible work also tied into questions around digital learning versus purely print learning. The high volume of work being done on a digital device created this disconnect.
Miriam described how learning on a device created this concern when she said,
I don’t really even know what they’re doing. What I would do with math is: I would usually buy a hard-copy textbook so I could help them, where I would have the book and they’re doing it on their iPad™. It’s because I just want to be
involved.
Lack of print materials. Digital learning, when compared to print learning, did provide some advantages. Most notable was the fact that students did not have to carry textbooks back and forth to school. As mentioned previously, parents viewed this as an educational benefit.
However, many participants reflected on challenges that solely reading and working on screens created. Miriam stated,
I’m old-fashioned so I [want to] touch a book. To me, they’re flipping through and writing with their finger. And I just can’t do that, not as fast as they can. And I’m not comfortable. I would always offer them a keyboard
Esther also shared insight in this area when she expressed feelings of disgust at the removal of the traditional library. She perceived value in providing students access to print books for reading. She shared:
Especially me, I feel it’s really important that they read, that they read real books. I take them to the library and get real books, which I thought was kind of disgusting when I came here, and they got rid of their library. They have no library. No books, no real books.
Sophia similarly viewed this negatively when she said, “I still feel like it’s nice if they could read a book. If they’re only read off a pad—always reading soft copy—the screen’s hard on their eyes. So I see that’s a somewhat negative affect.”
Mary also contributed thoughts related to concerns about simply reading on screens. She shared,
In elementary school, it was required reading every night. Like 30 minutes. You had to log in, and we did it, bedtime reading. Sometimes he’d go on for an hour ’cause he really liked the story, and now it’s like pulling teeth to get him to read a book. And that
concerns me.
Mary also stated that she found it difficult to encourage her son to read for sustained periods.
Sophia provided a good summary of the challenge of learning solely digital versus with print materials as she shared, “…there’s something to be said for tactile, using a piece of paper and pencil. And it’s not completely gone, but I don’t know. I think there’s something to be said with picking up a book and not the electronic.” Multiple participants highlighted concerns over reading solely from screens as compared to print materials.
Learning process. Multiple participants expressed questions and concerns about how learning exclusively with computers impacted the learning process. Mary wondered what changes digital learning may have brought about as she said, “I don’t know if that replaces another kind of skill that you would do manually, or a different kind of thought process.” Sophia
saw a place still for a learning process that occurred while working with print materials:
And the fact that you… I guess they can highlight and underline, but it’s something tactilely different in the learning process. So when you’re reading a novel, or something, to actually feel that. Highlighting or putting a sticky note that you could physically see not just shake. I mean, there’s all those tools that are in an iPad™ or on your computer, but there’s something still to be said about learning the old-fashioned way. I guess you could say that, yet you don’t have to do all either way. There’s a place for all of it.
Mary agreed, but also added: “I’ve heard people say that when you write things yourself with a pencil, that you actually remember it better.” Although parents were not citing research to back up their opinions, they did feel that learning on screens reduced a student’s ability to retain information.
Ruth noted that the learning process on the iPad™ created some challenges in the learning process for her son. She said, “I did notice initially that he’d try to do his reading, and then do his answering questions and sometimes that was kind of hard, because it was an older iPad™, and he took a while for him to get used to that because there wasn’t just paper around.”
Sophia spelled out important insight as to why she felt the need for some learning processes to still occur off a computer:
I think the bad that comes to that is for kids who need, and my kid does, did need, does need, something to hold in his hand. But the textbook’s there, and so yeah, you’re holding the iPad™, but there’s a difference. And he’s a good kid to be annotating, highlighting, and feeling.
And partly, he has learning disabilities, so the bad part is: it takes away some of the tactile that you get with the actual textbook. So he reads... We usually buy him all of his literature books, the novels and such ’cause he wants things in his hand as opposed to reading it off his iPad™.
Finally, Miriam shared feelings of appreciation that some work is still done by hand:
I worry about that and then handwriting. They’re not writing anything by hand. This school actually has moved to where the whole math department—all math is done on paper. I like that. It’s not completely digital. As a parent and a teacher, I like that. They just do pencil and paper for math. That’s good.
Though parents appreciated the educational value of moving books and work onto a digital device, they shared strong opinions on the importance of still learning in traditional ways with print materials.
Theme 4: Mixed feelings about technology. The third theme related to research