Introduction

As in many other countries, in Finland the implementation of ICT in schools has faced challenges (e.g. Cuban, 2001). One of the often suggested reasons for this failure is the lack of skills and/or knowledge of teachers regarding how to benefit from the use of technology as part of instruction. However, what is arguably at stake is not only teachers’ skills and knowledge about ICT. Implementing ICT requires a holistic transformation and reorganization of instructional practice in schools, including for example the student and teacher roles, the kinds of tasks and instructional tools in use, and so forth (Hakkarainen, 2009). ICT tools cannot just be brought to classrooms and expect teaching to improve by itself.

Thus, instead of blaming teachers, teachers should be better supported in incorporating ICT tools into their pedagogical practice. The Media Agent project strived to reorganize teaching and learning in schools by engaging some of the school students in ICT, and then teach the knowledge and skills to their peers, teachers and family members.

The objective of this study is to conceptualize and develop in-depth understanding of students’ experiences and interpretations of their participation in the Media Agents project by focusing on their pedagogical thinking (Byman & Kansanen, 2009; Mylläri et al., 2011) and practice-linked identities (Holland et al., 1998; Boaler & Greeno, 2000). Through our inquiry into how students interpret and relate to changing social practice of instruction, we hope to understand what are the crucial elements of putting ICT tools to practice in schools.

We pose the following research questions:

1) What kind of practice-linked identities do students’ display in their accounts of their participation in the Media Agents project?

2) How are students’ practice-linked identities associated with their pedagogical thinking regarding the Media Agents project?

The Media Agent project

Media Agent training was started three years ago, when a number of schools in the Helsinki metropolitan region joined in the project. The purpose of the project is that university students of media education teach school children ICT skills. They have developed small projects with groups of school students of a certain media educational theme. These projects have included a variety of software applications and the idea behind the project is, that after this, the school students would be able to act as Media Agents, and teach their peers and teachers in their own schools.

Students’ practice-linked identities and pedagogical thinking

In this study, we conceptualize learning as identity development in and transformation of valued social practices (Kumpulainen & Renshaw, 2007; Lave & Wenger, 1991). In other words, through their participation in the instructional practice in school, students’ develop practice-linked identities (Holland et al., 1998). The practice-linked identities in turn mediate students’ participation and agency (or lack thereof) in instruction. In this study, students’ agency signifies their capacity to act upon and in some cases transcend the instructional practice (Rajala et al., 2013).

Recently the concept of student’s pedagogical thinking (Byman & Kansanen, 2009) has gained interest especially in the context of media education (Mylläri et al, 2011). In prior research it has been used to refer to students’ awareness and acceptance of the curricular aims and goals as well as acting according to these aims and goals. This form of thinking is related to their achievement of agency as intentional membership in instructional practice (Rainio, 2008; Lipponen & Kumpulainen, 2011). In this study, we broaden this conceptualization to include forms of pedagogical thinking that account for students’ transformative agency that breaks away and transcends the constraints of the given practice (Rajala et al., 2013).

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