Enhancing student well-being and connectedness : technology as a resource for community building in the project teachers for a fair go

There is a broad consensus among government and education authorities that technology will have a significant impact on alleviating the social justice inequities entrenched in education. The shared aspirations amongst these stakeholders is that technology will increase the range of learning experiences available, thereby engaging with learners who are challenged by more traditional approaches (Selwyn 2011). Expected outcomes include: increasing learners’ control of their education; lowering of barriers that may otherwise prevent individuals from participating in education, for example, physical costs, geographical isolation, or the need to learn at a slower or faster pace (Selwyn 2011), and raising test scores (Cheung and Slavin 2012). Such transformational qualities of technology are clearly appealing and as a consequence many governments have prioritised access to technology in low socio-economic status (SES) schools (Warschaeur and Matuchniak 2010).