The screen and the sand-timer: the integration the interactive whiteboard into an early years free-flow learning environment

This paper aims to explore how the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) is situated in the social and material conditions of an early years free-flow learning environment. It examines how the affordances of the IWB and the expectations of the surrounding classroom impact on how activity involving the IWB unfolds. It achieves this through an analysis of observations, documented through video, of how children enter into and exit from activities involving the IWB during free-flow activity time. We share the different types of entrance and exit observed, and what these suggest about the social and material conditions in which IWB is situated. Based on these findings, we suggest opportunities for the disruption of existing patterns of integration of the IWB into the learning environment, so as to explore the potential for more collaborative and creative engagement with the technology. Specifically, we argue that the emphasis on turn-taking that characterises the early years learning environment – an emphasis reinforced by the inability of the IWB to support simultaneous engagement by multiple users – is prompting children to engage individually with the resources and miss opportunities to create and play together

Exploring the role of egocentrism and fear of missing out on online risk behaviours among adolescents in South Africa

The study explored the potential for developmental and social factors to predict adolescent online risk behaviour. Employing a sample of 1184 adolescents aged 12–18 in South Africa, the study examined gender, age, egocentrism (Personal Fable and Imaginary Audience) and Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) on online risk taking. Results showed that all variables were significant predictors of online risk behaviour. Higher Imaginary Audience, higher FoMO and older age emerged as strongest predictors, and males engaged in more online risks. FoMO also correlated significantly with egocentrism constructs. The findings indicate that egocentrism is a relevant developmental construct for understanding adolescent online risk taking along with social factors like FoMO, which can inform more targeted online safety efforts at particular developmental stages

Tweens' online privacy risks and the role of parental mediation

This study examined the role of parental mediation in tweens' online information disclosing behaviors. In particular, the influence of parental mediation on 2 types of personally identifiable information disclosure (voluntary disclosure in general online activities and disclosure upon marketers' request) was examined. A survey conducted with 381 parent-tween dyads in Korea revealed that, while parental mediation was not directly associated with tweens' information disclosing behaviors, parent-tween disagreement on restrictive mediation was: tweens' inaccurate perception of what parents do to limit their access to commercial Web sites seems to be positively related to tweens' information disclosure on the Web