Gap to be filled

The gap this research will fill relates to finding out how expertise is obtained, constructed and perceived by teenagers in regard to popular forms of media and digital technology in non-school settings.

The dictionary definition:

ex·pert n
1. somebody with a great deal of knowledge about, or skill, training, or experience in, a particular field or activity

So, not only am I looking for a more complex definition, I will be looking to understand the development and process of stages towards attaining technological expertise (in using digital media) in non-educational settings. I want to develop a definition out of what I see and make the point that I am doing this work to set it alongside the kind of school based measures of expertise which are almost exclusively tied to performance in testing regimes.

I want to be known for the development of sophisticated understandings of what expertise means in non-educational settings and the implications this has for curriculum and policy within educational settings. Looking at how teenagers’ expertise was and is understood, developed, informed, shared, and communicated will lead to sophisticated understandings of technological expertise, interest, and engagement, which in turn, will lead to redesigning effective pedagogy.