Transnational families, ICTs and mobile learning

Abstract

This article focuses on findings from an Economic and Social Research Council study in England about the uses of information and communication technologies (ICTs) among 15 highly mobile migrant workers within their transnational families. Using an extended case study approach including ethnographic methods and a thematic analysis, patterns appeared about learning within transnational families using ICTs. The findings were that their mobile learning was: (1) infused with caring; (2) multi-directional and involved multiple members; (3) translated tacit knowledge; and (4) enabled linguistic gifting. Implications for lifelong education centre on practice and policies that build on how transnational families communicate using ICTs. The study conclusions focus on the complexities of mobile learning within these families, showing that they are difficult to capture, but nonetheless important.