Appropriation of ICT by PhD students in education Apropiación de las TIC por los estudiantes de doctorado en educación a study based on digital narratives

Abstract

The present case study was carried out with the objective of understanding the processes of ICT appropriation in a group of doctoral students related to education in the city of Durango. Through the case study methodology, the ICT acquisition process by the participants was reconstructed.

The results revealed that it is not possible to define a single ICT appropriation process that applies to all individuals, due to the influence of the temporal, geographical, historical and cultural context. However, common stages were identified in the way in which Durango doctoral students appropriate ICT. These stages included an initial period of ignorance, followed by a phase of curiosity and interest that led to the exploration of the technologies. During this stage, it was observed that participants used contextual variables, such as the acquisition of devices, the use of free or paid public spaces, and the sharing of technological resources. The initial dependence on technological resources led to a training stage, where participants acquired the skills and knowledge necessary to use ICT effectively. However, the most relevant process was the "learning to learn" stage, in which participants developed the ability to learn autonomously and seek new applications of ICT to improve their quality of life.

These findings coincide with the idea that the construction of knowledge networks and nodes is more important than knowledge itself. Furthermore, the perspective of complexity theory is supported, where knowledge is found in a chaotic environment and requires constant construction and reconstruction. The importance of considering multiple contextual variables in future research to understand technological appropriation from a complex perspective was also highlighted.