Logo
Intuitive Media Logo
o Home 
o About 
o Latest News 
o Projects 
o Research Services 
o Press 
o Contact 
* Downloads 
    o SchoolNet FactFiles 
    o Take2theweb 
    o Community in My Pocket 
    o My Mobile 
    o Emily Connected 
    o Cyberbullying 
    o Posters 
    o My Safety 
    * Family Learning 
    o Evaluations 
    o Learning Files 
o Links 
o New Guides 
Mum & Dad help out
Mum & Dad help out
Learning in the Family - Coming September 2008...

We've found that 60% of children's learning in IM's Social Learning Networks, SuperClubsPLUS and GoldStarCafe takes place outside school - and most of it in the home. Intuitive Media's latest research initiative looks at Parental Engagement in Children’s Learning with Technology.

Funded by Becta, the research will focus on children learning with their parents and other family members.

The research will include online surveys supported by interviews with children and their families.

The first community survey will establish overall community behaviour in relation to learning at home in the family and will cover such areas as:
  • What form does children’s learning at home with technology take?
  • What is the pattern of their evening and weekend activity and how does learning with technology fit in?
  • When and where (in the house) do children learn in their online communities?
  • How is their learning exposed to or hidden from the family?
  • Which siblings and parents get involved?
A second survey will build on what we learn from the first and then home in on the detail of learning in the family:
  • Which parents get involved and how?
  • When and where do parents get involved?
  • What do mothers do with the children?
  • What do fathers do with the children?
  • How welcome is their involvement?
  • How do children think it could it be improved?
There is strong government interest in involving fathers in children's learning, and the surveys will help identify a sample of children whose fathers help them out. We will invite some of these children and their families to one-to-one interviews to help us identify the factors that make paternal involvement possible, desirable and effective
  • How much time do parents have available to become involved with their children’s learning at home?
  • What other activities compete for the parents’ attention?
  • What motivates and enables mother or father to become involved?
  • What de-motivates and disables them?
  • How does the child’s use of the technology help or hinder?
  • How could parental involvement be improved?
  • What better role could the technology play?
The research findings will be published in September 2008.