Sociomateriality

Abstract

Distributed medical education (DME) is a type of distance learning in which students participate in medical education from diverse geographic locations using Web conferencing, videoconferencing, e-learning, and similar tools. DME is becoming increasingly widespread in North America and around the world.Although relatively new to medical education, distance learning has a long history in the broader field of education and a related body of literature that speaks to the importance of engaging in rigorous and theoretically informed studies of distance learning. The existing DME literature is helpful, but it has been largely descriptive and lacks a critical "lens"-that is, a theoretical perspective from which to rigorously conceptualize and interrogate DME's social (relationships, people) and material (technologies, tools) aspects.The authors describe DME and theories about distance learning and show that such theories focus on social, pedagogical, and cognitive considerations without adequately taking into account material factors. They address this gap by proposing sociomateriality as a theoretical framework allowing researchers and educators to study DME and (1) understand and consider previously obscured actors, infrastructure, and other factors that, on the surface, seem unrelated and even unimportant; (2) see clearly how the social and material components of learning are intertwined in fluid, messy, and often uncertain ways; and (3) perhaps think differently, even in ways that disrupt traditional approaches, as they explore DME. The authors conclude that DME brings with it substantial investments of social and material resources, and therefore needs careful study, using approaches that embrace its complexity.

Using technology to accomplish comparability of provision in distributed medical education in Canada: an actor–network theory ethnography

“…The theoretical framework for our research is provided by actor-network theory (ANT) (Callon, 1986;Latour, 2005;Law, 1994Law, , 2004MacLeod et al, 2015). Other ANT studies have explored not only medical education but also adult basic education, archaeology, management studies, physics, and teacher education (Bleakley, 2012;Fenwick and Edwards, 2010;Hamilton, 2009;Nespor, 1994;Rimpiläinen, 2015;Tummons, 2010).…”

The invisible work of distributed medical education: exploring the contributions of audiovisual professionals, administrative professionals and faculty teachers

“…Interestingly, the medical education literature has shied away from recognizing that a human-centred approach to understanding the intricate process of medical education produces an oversight with respect to most things material (Fenwick & Nimmo, 2015;MacLeod et al, 2015). Medical education is deeply humanistic in its underlying assumptions and theories.…”

Medical students’ challenges and suggestions regarding research training: a synthesis of comments from a cross-sectional survey

“…There is increasing inclusion of Internet and telephone technologies in distributed medical education, such as large real-time video-conference displays and classroom interactions between distributed campuses. 13,14 An increased and applied use of technologies may be important with respect to student engagement around research education and opportunities and recent changes to the Michael G. DeGroote school of medicine curriculum include new online materials summarizing research opportunities for students. Other recent strategies to encourage student research are involvement of students in research-related committees (e.g., training development, journal interest group) and formal review of student research projects.…”