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Slate-Enabled Literacy Practices in a Futureschool@Singapore Classroom

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The Case of the iPad

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Abstract

The chapter examines and analyzes literacy practices in a FutureSchool@Singapore English Language classroom where each student has a tablet personal computer, which the school termed the ‘slate’. The study adopted an ecological approach to understanding literacy and employed digitally enhanced classroom microethnographic methods in its data collection. Using Activity Theory to guide the analysis of slate-enabled literacy events in this classroom, the research found that such a 1:1 computing networked environment allowed student participants to be active agents in shaping classroom literacy practices. The study provides evidences of teachers and students negotiating knowledge transmission and knowledge building pedagogies, and how such a learning environment can potentially bridge the “digital divide” between in-school and out-of-school literacy practices.

The pace of change is so quick now, if our people don’t have the skills and we don’t have the infrastructure, we’re out of the game (Channel News Asia. 2016. Singapore needs to stay ahead while pursuing smart nation vision. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-needs-to-stay/2688112.html).

Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister-in-Charge of the Smart Nation Programme Office, Singapore

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In order that participants remain anonymous I have used fictional names throughout.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Singapore Ministry of Education, Singapore, Malaysia

    Siew Hiang Sally Ng

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  1. Siew Hiang Sally Ng
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Correspondence to Siew Hiang Sally Ng .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Cathy Burnett

  2. Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Guy Merchant

  3. The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Alyson Simpson

  4. The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia and The Australian Catholic University, North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Maureen Walsh

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Ng, S.H.S. (2017). Slate-Enabled Literacy Practices in a Futureschool@Singapore Classroom. In: Burnett, C., Merchant, G., Simpson, A., Walsh, M. (eds) The Case of the iPad. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4364-2_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4364-2_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-10-4363-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-4364-2

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