Researching with heart in ed-tech: what opportunities does the socially indeterminate character of technical artefacts open up for affirming emergent and marginalized practices?

In this chapter I draw upon theoretical concepts broadly consistent with a sociocultural view of technology to discuss a series of observations about emergent digital practices and school learning, and to raise implications for ed-tech research. Specifically, I seek to claim some space for—and to argue the merit of—“close-up” studies of the actual (Selwyn, 2010): studies that seek to document the diversity of doings that comprise technology use by young people in and out of school.