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Educational Computer Use in Leisure Contexts: A Phenomenological Study of Adolescents’ Experiences at Internet Cafés

The Ohio State University

Computer use is a widespread leisure activity for adolescents. Leisure contexts, such as Internet cafés, constitute specific social environments for computer use and may hold significant educational potential. This article reports a phenomenological study of adolescents’ experiences of educational computer use at Internet cafés in Turkey. The purposes of the study were to understand and describe the phenomenon in depth and arrive at the essence of adolescents’ experiences with the phenomenon. Data were collected through series of in-depth phenomenological interviews with six adolescents and analyzed using phenomenal analysis. The results include potential benefits of Internet cafés as specific social leisure contexts of educational computer use for adolescent development. Implications for designing and studying computer-based informal learning environments are presented.

Key Words: phenomenology • computer use • informal learning • context • adolescence • Internet café • Turkey

This version was published on March 1, 2009

American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 46, No. 1, 232-274 (2009)
DOI: 10.3102/0002831208323938


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