Usage des smartphones et apprentissage des élèves du secondaire en contexte extrascolaire au Cameroun

Abstract

The use of smartphones by students is a phenomenon that is the subject of concern for the entire educational community. The trivialisation of the Internet and social networks among students is then perceived as a disruption that shatters the serenity of the formal educational framework. As a result, the authorities in charge of education are faced with the need to ban their use in schools. However, in view of the educational potential recognised in these tools, these authorities rather encourage learners to take advantage of this potential outside of school. The out-of-school setting thus becomes the appropriate place to analyse Smartphone uses for educational purposes. This research therefore raises the problem of the importance of the Smartphone to secondary school learners in non-formal situations. The hypothesis that we have formulated is that the Smartphone is a major asset for individual and collaborative learning, but the difficulties relating to this use is general and to the functioning of WhatsApp groups in particular testify to the challenges to be. This hypothesis was verified using a sociocritical approach to the uses of digital technology in education. In fact, this approach stipulates that the educational relationship of students to digital technology can only be understood if a synergy is established between individual, contextual l and socio-cultural factors. To collect data, we used direct observation in 13 WhatsApp groups of students and teacher-students, as well as semi-structured interviews with 21 students, 10 teachers and 10 parents. The interview items focused on Smartphone use practices, the digital relationship, obstacles and challenges related to the use of Smartphones by students in an extracurricular context. The data analysis was done by the method of analytical induction which allowed us to identify the characteristics of the phenomenon studied as well as the obstacles and challenges perceived by the members of the educational community. Research shows that individual and collective uses go through search engines, social networks, games and educational sites, dictionaries, translators and specialised applications. The contribution of these uses is expressed by the respondents in terms of deepening the knowledge acquired in class, review activities, self-assessment and document sharing in WhatsApp groups. Thus, the digital relationship of students, teachers and parents, and the economic and infrastructural challenges constitute either catalysts or obstacles to these uses.