Digital technologies such as televisions, touch screen tablets, smartphones, and smart speakers are now frequently encountered and used by young children even before the age of one. These devices facilitate modern parents in their care-giving of young children due to their prevalence in the home environment. The use of these devices is especially common by international student mothers of young children who subscribe to a multiplicity of roles such as being a productive student, efficient mother, and dutiful partner in a new country.
This dissertation summarizes four studies exploring the role of technology in international student mothers' life as a parent of young children, and the implications of design and research of technologies for parents based on the transferable learning from these studies. The first and second studies employ auto ethnographic and collaborative approach to involve these mothers as equal stakeholders and collaborators to understand their context of use of technology. The third and fourth studies explore the various uses of technology by caregivers and young children, to obtain certain gratifications.
By engaging primary caregivers in in-depth efforts of understanding of their motivations and perceptions about early childhood media exposure, I set forth the praxis between the professional recommendations and their actual lived experiences with technology and young children. Building on these insights, I present a conceptual framework for research which considers the dyadic use of technology due to the close relationship between primary caregivers and young children. Based on the various roles of technology in international student mothers' parenting, I present implications for designing technologies which can assist parents in their care giving duties. / Doctor of Philosophy / Digital technologies such as televisions, touch screen tablets, smartphones, and smart speakers are now frequently encountered and used by young children even before the age of one, and facilitate modern parents in their care-giving of young children due to their prevalence in the home environment. The use of these devices is especially common by international student mothers of young children who subscribe to a multiplicity of roles such as being a productive student, efficient mother, and dutiful partner in a new country. I employ auto ethnographic and collaborative asset-based approaches to involve these mothers as equal stakeholders and collaborators to have an in-depth understanding of their context of use of technology. I explore the various gratifications sought by caregivers and children through their uses of technology, and illustrate how current technologies succeed in delivering those gratifications, and where they do not come up to scratch due to their unique living circumstances. By engaging primary caregivers in in-depth efforts of understanding of their motivations and perceptions about early childhood media exposure, I set forth the praxis between the professional recommendations and their actual lived experiences with technology and young children. Building on these insights, I present a conceptual framework for research which considers the dyadic use of technology by primary caregivers and young children due to their close relationship. Based on the various roles of technology in international student mothers' lives, I then present implications for designing technologies including screen-based digital childcare assistants and interactive shows, conversational user interfaces as bilingual language learning partners, and mobile applications to support young children's incidental learning, which can assist parents in their care giving duties.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/111436 |
| Date | 02 August 2022 |
| Creators | Bhatti, Neelma |
| Contributors | Computer Science and Applications, McCrickard, D. Scott, Kelliher, Aisling, Hiniker, Alexis, Cennamo, Katherine S., Seyam, Mohammed Saad Mohamed Elmahdy |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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