Digital skills critical for education: Video analysis of students' technology use in Norwegian secondary English classrooms

Background Globally, digital skills are a crucial aspect of education that schools should develop systematically. Research on digital skills tends to be measured using self-reports, performance tests or interventions. There is less knowledge about student and teacher uptake of technology in school, making it important to investigate the actual use of technology and digital skills in authentic classroom settings. Objectives This study contributes unique baseline data concerning students' use of technology and digital skills across mandatory English courses in real classroom settings in secondary schools in Norway over time. Methods The study adapted a national framework for digital skills into an observation protocol. With it, this study analysed videos from 60 naturally occurring English lessons in 13 English classes at seven lower secondary schools over two school years (grades 9 and 10), following 186 students (aged 13–15) and 10 teachers. Results and Conclusions Students used digital skills critical for education in half of the video-recorded English lessons, with more digital skill use at some schools over time. The main finding across classrooms and school years regards students' use of basic, not advanced, digital skills. Takeaways Although teachers provide opportunities for students to use digital skills in school, more advanced skills are needed. This work calls for continued use of video recordings to provide systematic comparisons of potential shifts in students' digital skills in real English secondary classroom settings over time