ERIC Number: EJ1458992
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Feb
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0266-4909
EISSN: EISSN-1365-2729
Can We Work It Out? Affordances and Constraints for Cultivating Perspective-Taking in Digital Contexts
Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, v41 n1 e13086 2025
Background: The rising importance of digital technologies in everyday communication has played a key role in processes of political polarization and rising mistrust and intolerance. We suggest this crisis could be productively conceptualized as a crisis in perspective-taking--the tendency and competency to actively consider others' mental and emotional states. Objectives: This conceptual paper sets out to propose a theoretical framework that identifies the key affordances of digital platforms for promoting perspective-taking in formal educational settings (K-12 and higher education): (1) "connecting" diverse individuals, (2) "simulating" interactions with other perspectives and (3) supporting the "articulation" and sharing of perspectives. Methods: Rather than summarizing the state of existing research, this paper aims to offer a novel conceptualization that allows unpacking the interplay between research on perspective-taking and work on the affordances and constraints of digital media. We identify the three key affordances outlined above, exemplifying them by focusing on one type of digital tool and comparing them along two axes: (i) the "depth" vs. "diversity" of interactions it supports and (ii) its cultivation of "intergroup" perspective-taking vs. "interpersonal" perspective-taking. Results and Conclusions: This framework, we argue, articulates the advantages and limitations of digital tools towards engagement in perspective-taking, while providing a conceptual roadmap, and practical considerations, for researchers and practitioners interested in cultivating digitally mediated perspective-taking in educational settings.
Descriptors: Affordances, Barriers, Perspective Taking, Electronic Learning, Elementary Secondary Education, Higher Education, Educational Technology, Interaction, Interpersonal Communication, Intergroup Relations, Cooperative Learning
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A