Participation as Structure: Visibility, Recognition, and the Production of Wellbeing in Technology-Mediated Higher Education

Yitong Ye

doi:10.18686/ahe.v9i8.14409

Participation as Structure: Visibility, Recognition, and the Production of Wellbeing in Technology-Mediated Higher Education

Yitong Ye

Abstract

Participation remains a central indicator of engagement and integration in higher education. Yet in technologymediated environments, participation is increasingly structured by digital infrastructures that configure visibility, traceability, and evaluative exposure. While belonging scholarship has established the importance of relational integration, limited attention has been paid to how digital participation regimes shape recognition processes and student wellbeing. Drawing on sociocultural theory, belonging research, sociomaterial perspectives, and emerging digital wellbeing scholarship, this design-based qualitative study reconceptualises participation as a sociotechnical structure. Data from 180 multimodal participation artefacts, 42 longitudinal refl ections, instructor interviews, and platform interaction traces were analysed across one academic term. Findings indicate that participation inequities are structurally patterned by digital visibility regimes and that recognition mediates the relationship between expression, belonging, and wellbeing. The study advances a sociotechnical participation model and off ers design principles for inclusive, wellbeing-oriented digital learning environments.

Keywords

Wellbeing; Technology; Higher education

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References

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18686/ahe.v9i8.14409

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