Teaching the web: moving towards principles for web education

Abstract

We fail to teach students to think critically about the Web in schools within the United Kingdom (UK). This is a problem. It is also the focus of this thesis. As a teacher, I feel this problem is an unacceptable status quo. One that ensures we fail to empower young people as knowledgeable citizens of society and the Web itself. So, I offer here an original contribution to knowledge in order to change this, through a research investigation that aims to move us in the right direction. It is a contribution because it begins to solve the problem of a lack of critical education about the Web in schools through reporting the findings of a participatory study. This study sheds light on how we might develop principles for Web education in two schools within the UK; my thesis offers a foundational framework for pedagogy about the Web that can be used in schools. It analyses the views of teachers and students, actors with much experience in this landscape, about issues surrounding teaching and learning the Web, at a time when such views have not been adequately considered. Their insight was necessary to better understand the status quo. Hence, this thesis arose from a desire to explore the problem described above, particularly from the view of those most directly involved: teachers and students. I aimed to discover what was currently taught about the Web within UK secondary schools, any strengths and weaknesses, and how we might approach it in the future. I set out to learn what actors felt about teaching the Web and learning about the Web. To do so, I asked how it might be done differently and, through this investigation, what original reflections could be forged. I aimed to make these capable of informing future educational development. Hence, I formulated four research questions:
1. How is the Web currently taught in schools?
2. What is the insight of teachers and students?
3. What might an alternative intervention look like?
4. What is the critical reflection and lessons we can learn from that?
To answer these questions, I adopted a design research method. I produced a co-constructed, mixed-method study that interviewed a sample of 49 students, aged 11-18, and 20 teachers, of varying positions and ages, located in two different schools. These interviews informed my thinking, as well as topic choice, for a teaching intervention design. I deployed this as a six lesson teaching intervention with a total of 20 students. These students were split evenly into two classes, one located in each school. To reflect upon my intervention, I then gained feedback from 10 teachers and those same 20 students. Both groups appraised my concept through a post-study questionnaire. Web Science, the interdisciplinary banner I fly my intervention to teach about the Web under, has never charted this course before. With this in mind, my investigation frames an unorthodox manifesto for future researchers to build on.

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ORCID for Leslie Carr: orcid.org/0000-0002-2113-9680

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