The influence of technological designs on teachers’ and students’ meaning-making: Semiotic chains configuring teaching and learning activities

The relationships between digital technologies and the realization of teaching and learning activities have received increased attention in interdisciplinary research. Knowledge of the connections between technological designs and users’ meaning making in semiotic chains is, however, still partial. Teachers’ and students’ remediation of technological designs through cognitive processing was studied in this paper to gain insights into semiotic chain configurations. Data consisting of video recordings, interviews, and observations were processed with quantitative content analysis and learning analytics strategies. The findings suggest that the technological design's visualized functions greatly affect the semiotic chain configuration when integrated with their users’ meaning making in lower-level actions. Technological designs seem to buttonize meaning making, and teaching and learning activities become technologized. Scaled cognitive processes can provide insights into differentiated meaning making according to the technologies, and perspectives on paralanguage are proposed.