Affectibility in Educational Technologies: A Socio-Technical Perspective for Design

Hayashi and Baranauskas (2013) present a sociotechnical plan that integrates emotional, cultural, and technical dimensions into educational technology design through their concept of Affectibility. The study was based on a qualitative project involving the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative at a public school in Campinas, Brazil. Using Organizational Semiotics (Stamper, 1993) and participatory design, the authors explored how educational technology could make sense to its users by reflecting the school’s social and cultural practices. The Semiotic Onion model provided a framework for understanding formal, informal, and technical layers of interaction, emphasizing that meaningful learning occurs when technology supports the lived experiences and emotions of its users. This approach moved beyond traditional usability and efficiency-based frameworks to a holistic, human-centered model that treats emotion as an essential part of learning.

The sociotechnical plan was implemented through participatory workshops, interviews, and observations involving more than 500 teachers, students, and staff. The authors documented four case studies that demonstrated how laptops could transform learning through emotional engagement, collaboration, and self-expression. Examples included using laptops to personalize homework, promote interdisciplinary learning, and encourage student volunteerism. These cases showed that Affectibility, or the degree to which technology can evoke positive emotional responses, played an important role in motivating students and strengthening their sense of identity. The findings aligned with Freire’s (1968) view of dialogical education and Papert’s (1993) constructionism, both of which advocate for learning environments where technology and pedagogy develop through active participation. Hayashi and Baranauskas (2011) previously argued that affective design enhances usability by linking technical function with emotional value, and this study builds on that foundation by showing how affective dimensions can guide classroom integration in practice.

Although the plan is conceptually strong and supported by data, it faces challenges in scalability and adaptability. The approach depends heavily on local participation, cultural awareness, and institutional cooperation, which may not transfer easily to other educational settings. Jacobs et al. (2016) note similar issues when applying Organizational Semiotics in co-design environments, where maintaining collaboration can be difficult in larger or less flexible systems. Hayashi et al. (2012) also recognized obstacles such as limited infrastructure, lack of teacher training, and administrative resistance. Despite these challenges, the sociotechnical plan highlights the importance of understanding schools as cultural systems where emotion, learning, and technology intersect. It reminds educational leaders that technology adoption is as much about relationships and human experience as it is about software and devices.

Another important strength of the plan is its interdisciplinary foundation, which connects theories from human-computer interaction, socio-cultural learning, and educational psychology. By embedding affective design within semiotic and participatory frameworks, Hayashi and Baranauskas demonstrate how technological artifacts can promote engagement and meaning-making. Schnaider (2023) expands this discussion by showing how semiotic processes continue to influence digital learning environments. Their work supports the idea that emotion and cultural context remain central to how students construct understanding through technology. Overall, the sociotechnical plan proposed by Hayashi and Baranauskas (2013) continues to provide a valuable model for researchers and designers who seek to develop educational systems that honor both human emotion and cultural diversity while improving access and inclusion in learning.

 

References:

Freire, P. (1968). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Herder and Herder.

Hayashi, E. C. S., & Baranauskas, M. C. C. (2011). The affectibility concept in systems for learning contexts. International Journal for e-Learning Security, 1(1/2), 10–18.

Hayashi, E. C. S., & Baranauskas, M. C. C. (2013). Affectibility in educational technologies: A socio-technical perspective for design. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 16(1), 57–68.

Hayashi, E. C. S., Martins, M. C., & Baranauskas, M. C. C. (2012). Schools as organizations: A semiotic approach towards making sense of information technology. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (pp. 15–24). SCITEPRESS.

Jacobs, A., Pan, Y.-C., & Askool, S. (2016). An organisational semiotics perspective to co-design of technology enhanced learning. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Society (i-Society 2016) (pp. 36–41). IEEE.

Papert, S. (1993). The children’s machine: Rethinking school in the age of the computer. HarperCollins.

Schnaider, K. (2023). The influence of technological designs on teachers’ and students’ meaning-making: Semiotic chains configuring teaching and learning activities. Computers and Education: Open, 4, 100136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeo.2023.100136

Stamper, R. (1993). A semiotic theory of information and information systems. University of Newcastle Seminar on Information.