Many primary schools integrate digital media into the classroom, and many pupils use media in the context of learning tasks they are required to complete outside school – often referred to as homework (Rummler, Grabensteiner, and Schneider-Stingelin 2020). This contribution examines the specific use of digital media for homework in the second cycle of the German-speaking Swiss school system. The focus is on years 3 to 6 of primary education, investigating the interplay between structures, related practices, and locations of doing homework. In this context, structures may unfold to e.g. digital hardware and software used for homework, network availabilities, or the multitude of platforms, apps, and services where homework is to be completed. Structures, practices, and locations (Pachler, Bachmair, and Cook 2010; Grabensteiner 2023) are interconnected e.g. through the involvement of supporting individuals such as teachers, parents (Bräu 2017; Schneider Stingelin, Rummler, and Grabensteiner 2020), or caregivers, as well as the availability of digital infrastructure at different locations. Those locations may include the school building itself, day care centers, public transportation, or even the kitchen table at home. This results in a complex scheme of (infra-)structures and locations that are relevant for understanding how pupils complete their homework using digital media. Previous research in this field demonstrated the complexity of relationships between hardware, apps/services/media used, and school subjects for German-Swiss secondary I (years 7-9). One of the generalized results was that language learning (subject: English) involved hardware like smartphones and translation apps, whereas the school subject Mathematics involved traditional analogue media like the school book (Rummler, Grabensteiner, and Schneider Stingelin 2019). This current question of exploring the interplay between structures, related practices, and locations focusses on revealing challenges and obstacles with phenomena like pupils using the school’s iPad with very low battery but realizing that the parent’s household is only equipped with Android charging devices, thus running the risk of not having done homework. This would not even be one of those fabricated excuses for not having done the homework, but it is a real challenge for pupils and parents. Building on this exploration of challenges, this contribution will conclude with answers to questions on the matter of support: what does support pupils, parents, teachers? What is the role of Media Education and what can we as scholars do in order to reduce a bit of this everyday-life complexity from the field of homework?

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