Building upon a recent call to renew actor-network theory (ANT) for educational research, this article reconsiders relations between technology and educational theory. Taking cues from actor-network theorists, this discussion considers the technologically-mediated networks in which learning actors are situated, acted upon, and acting, and traces the novel positions of creative capacity and participation that emerging media may enable. Whereas traditional theories of educational technology tend to focus on the harmonization of new technologies with extant curricular goals and educational practices, an educational theory of technology looks to novel forms of technologically-mediated learning experience-from production pedagogies to role play in the virtual-to make visible the surprising relations, techniques, and opportunities that emerging media, and their attendant social contexts, may offer educational research.

STEM education initiatives currently pervade the global landscape of educational reform. Unfortunately, the rush to adopt STEM reforms in North American schools and develop students for competitive 21 st century knowledge economies has encouraged an uncritical embrace of underlying STEM narratives and purposes, thus foreclosing critical discussion, alternative models, and new perspectives on doing science education differently. Here, we unpack narratives and practices informing STEM education that induct learning actors into 'anticipatory regimes' that advance neoliberal ends and technocapitalist ideologies. We argue first that STEM narratives of progress, competition, and innovation increasingly obscure the urgent ecological, ethical and social justice conditions students confront daily. Ironically, this prepares them for a future rendered unsustainable by scientific and technological orthodoxy. We then draw upon critical sustainability studies (CSS) to articulate new axiological orientations that reposition science and technology learning. Lastly, we describe and illustrate an approach aligned with these critical principlesproduction pedagogywhose theories and practices re-vision science and technology education. These strategies will situate students in agentive roles now, in this present, using realworld tools in authentic sociotechnical contexts. They can then confront their own capacities and limitations to engage in personally relevant ways, as producers, with techno-scientific knowledge. IntroductionPolicy and initiatives advancing STEM education are pervasive within the global landscape of educational reform. While STEM policy documents provide rationale for ratifying new curricula that can deepen students' engagement in the sciences, mathematics, engineering, and technology fields, STEM education discourses largely fail to translate innovations in policy into innovations in pedagogy, and neglect, as well, theoretical and epistemological advances in conceptualizing the impacts of science and technology in physical, social, and symbolic worlds (Murphy, Firetto, & Greene, 2017; Rudolph, 2008;Zeidler, 2016). At the same time, the urgency to adopt and implement STEM reforms in North American schools has resulted in an uncritical embrace of underlying STEM aims and purposes, in turn foreclosing dissent, critical discussion, alternative models, and new perspectives on how we might 'do' science, and (STEM) education, differently.

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The New London Group’s 1996 manifesto was a clarion call to educational researchers to fundamentally redesign language and literacy education for the needs of global learners communicating in evolving digital media environments. In this conceptual overview, the “how”, “what” and “why” of multiliteracies are critically re examined from the perspective of mobile digital language learning in posthumanist media ecologies, with attention drawn to paradigm shifts in language, technology, multimodality and context. We argue that Web 3.0 environments, AI and rapidly emerging algorithmic cultures have outpaced earlier critical theorizations of multiliteracies and digitally mediated learning practices as well as meaningful implementation of multiliteracies pedagogies in schools. We then reconsider the affordances and constraints of Web 3.0 tools for multilingual/plurilingual language learning, and sketch pathways for critical and productive engagements with mobile devices and multiliteracies pedagogies that reframe and advance the important critical work of the New London Group.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of a commissioned research study that analyzed a schooling initiative with the ambitious goal of transforming learning environments across the district by advancing innovative, inquiry-driven pedagogical practices combined with 1:1 iPad distribution. The paper explores impacts of the initiative on pedagogical innovation, twenty-first century learning, and related impacts on professional learning, collaboration, and culture change in the pilot schools analyzed in the study. Design/methodology/approach A multi-dimensional case study approach was used to analyze how the initiative was implemented, and to what extent teaching, learning, and professional cultures were transformed, based on action plan inputs and “change drivers”. Research methods included structured, open-ended interviews conducted with randomly selected teachers and key informants in leadership roles, focus groups held with students, as well as analysis of policy documents, student work samples, and other data sources. Findings The authors found evidence of a synergistic relationship between innovations in inquiry-driven pedagogy and professional learning cultures, with evidence of increased collaboration, deepened engagement and persistence, and a climate of collegiality and risk-taking at both classroom and organizational levels. Based on initiative inputs, the authors found that innovations in collaborative technology/pedagogy practices in classrooms paralleled similar innovations and transformations in professional learning cultures and capacity-building networks. Practical implications This initiative analyzed in this paper provides a case study in large-scale system change, offering a compelling model for transformative policies and initiatives where interwoven innovations in pedagogy and technology mobilization are supported by multiple drivers for formal and informal professional learning/development and networked collaboration. Challenges and recommendations are highlighted in the concluding discussion. Originality/value The transformative initiative analyzed in this paper provides a very timely case-model for innovations in twenty-first century learning and, specifically, for enacting and sustaining large-scale system change where inquiry-driven learning and technology tools are being mobilized to support “deep learning”, “new learning partnerships”, and multilevel transformations in professional learning (Fullan and Donnelly, 2013). This research advances scholarly work in the areas of twenty-first century learning, identifying relationships between technology/pedagogy innovation and professional capital building (Hargreaves and Fullan, 2012).