Care as a Resource in Underserved Learning Environments

We present results from an ethnographic inquiry of technology-based learning at an after-school learning center in Mumbai (India) that caters to students from neighboring slum communities. We conducted participant observation for 120 hours and 58 semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders (including teachers, staff, parents, and students) at the center over nine weeks from December 2015 to July 2016. Taking an assets-based approach in an underserved context, we uncover the role of care as a resource and present the rich and varied caring behaviors enacted in this sociotechnical system. We then discuss how care effects a greater sense of ownership, interdependency, and community. Examining the role of aligning values in motivating caring behavior, we conclude with recommendations for supporting, leveraging, and extending care via technology design in an underserved, technology-enhanced learning environment.