Doctoral Dissertation Research: Digital Adaptation and the Stratification of Cultural Practices

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Jeremy Freese Cassidy PuckettNorthwestern University Youth born in an era of embedded digital technologies are commonly assumed to be "digital natives" who uniformly and effortlessly master technology through simple immersion. Research indicates there are wide gaps in depth of technological competence that can influence areas as diverse as income, health, and political participation. Meanwhile little is known about how to describe the development of technological competence and how to explain its uneven distribution. While technological access continues to be a barrier for many, access alone does not explain why some learn new technologies more readily than others, even among younger cohorts. Meanwhile, the changing nature of technology has hindered conceptualization, measurement, and explanation of differences in technological competence.The research addresses this gap by focusing on one aspect of competence: digital adaptability. Conceptualization and measurement of adaptability has been addressed in earlier work, but this study will focus on the social determinants of digital adaptability. More specifically, in addition to considering demographic factors, the study's research questions are: 1) What ideas and practices within each sphere of adolescents' social worlds affect digital adaptability (i.e., at home, in school, among peers, and in other elective spheres)? 2) Looking across the entire "learning ecology," how does heterogeneity of ideas and practices affect digital adaptability? To investigate these questions, the study employs mixed methods with two data collection phases: 1) an exploratory case study and survey refinement phase to provide rich, qualitative understanding of the dynamics within and across learning spheres of a small sample of Chicago Public School (CPS) students as well as to inform development of a survey and 2) a survey data collection phase among ~2800 8th grade students in 32 CPS grammar schools to study correlates of digital adaptability across a larger population. Broader ImpactsThis research will: 1) provide practical tools for the assessment of adolescents? propensity to learn new technologies, 2) contribute to sociological research about how the nature of learning ecologies can shape social learning processes, and 3) reach broad research and educator audiences through conferences and publications. In addition, the research itself will contribute to the education of low-income students from high school through PhD levels through involvement of low-income undergraduate and high school research assistants in the research, analysis, and dissemination processes