Studying Networked Learning: Some Implications from Socially Situated Learning Theory and Actor Network Theory

Fox, Steve

doi:10.1007/978-1-4471-0181-9_5

Cited by 27 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Technologies can have agency—they may affect change in educational settings—but they are intentionally designed by humans to do so, and do not inherently act with intentions. This is the position adopted elsewhere in the technology‐enhanced learning field (Fox, ; Goodyear & Carvalho, ). For this reason, the term “intentional agency” is used in the fundamental assumption above, to clarify that the agency we are talking about is purposeful and emerges from participants.…”

Section: The Fundamental Assumption Of Technology‐mediated Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technology‐mediated learning theory

Bower¹

2019

Brit J Educational Tech

187

103

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Matt Bower is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Macquarie University. With over 80 peer-reviewed publications, his work spans the fields of learning design, teacher education, technology-enhanced learning and computing education. He is intensely curious about how emerging technologies may be used to enhance learning outcomes and experiences. Defn. Mediate [technical, with object] Bring about (a result such as a physiological effect) 1. Be a means of conveying. 2. Form a link between. IntroductionWhile technology-enhanced learning can appear on the surface to be quite a simplistic phenomenon, in reality, it is deceptively complex, with its various actors, their diverse assumptions, intentions, and background knowledge, the numerous technologies at peoples' disposal and their various attributes, all within the context of attempting to facilitate learning. The use of digital technologies such as wikis, blogs, social media, mobile applications, virtual worlds, learning management systems and so on is becoming increasingly common in formal learning environments, particularly within online learning environments such as massive open online courses (MOOCs), and in many of these instances technology is the means by which interactions between participants (most typically teachers and students) is mediated. A wide variety of theoretical perspectives have been used to examine the use of technology in education, including Activity Theory, Social-Cognitive Theory, affordances, multimodal and multimedia learning, AbstractTechnology-enhanced learning research, such as that relating to the use of online technologies in formal learning contexts, is sometimes criticised for being undertheorised. This paper draws together areas of research and theory that have previously been somewhat separately treated, to support the integrated analysis and research of situations where technology mediates learning. First, key areas of research and theory relating to technology-mediated learning are introduced, along with their associated conceptual underpinnings and assumptions, in terms of premises. These areas are then explained with relation to one another regarding how they can be used to holistically understand learning in contexts where technology mediates learning. The implications of the theoretical concepts are discussed in terms of the future conduct of technologymediated learning research, as well as the scope and conditions under which the theorisations apply.Actor Network Theory, Community of Inquiry and Communities of Practice, to name a few. However, some of these have been borrowed from fields outside technology-enhanced learning so as to lack contextual specificity, while others focus attention on specific aspects of technology-enhanced learning at the expense of additional important influences. In this paper, pertinent theories and perspectives of import are synthesised to derive a holistic view of how learning occurs in situations where technology mediates learning.

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Section: The Fundamental Assumption Of Technology‐mediated Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Technology‐mediated learning theory

Bower¹

2019

Brit J Educational Tech

187

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…This sociological approach extends more traditional approaches viewing learning as psychological and cognitive processes in learners' heads (Fox, 2002). In actor-network theory, learning is conceptualized as a process of network construction, and this process is called 'translation' (Callon, 1986(Callon, , 1991.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Our approach locates learning of practices between learners and other human and nonhuman actors, constructing a network of competences for enacting the practice (Fox, 2000(Fox, , 2002. We thus build on the sociology of knowledge and particularly on actor-network theory (e.g., Callon, 1986).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Responsible Practices in the Wild: An Actor-Network Perspective on Mobile Apps in Learning as Translation(s)

2019

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Competence to enact responsible practices, such as recycling waste or boycotting irresponsible companies, is core to learning for responsibility. A variety of smartphone apps have been created to support such practices, while accompanying people through their lives. We aim to explore the role of such apps in learning processes of responsible practices 'in the wild', outside formal educational environments. We therefore designed learning interventions as part of a university course in which students were required to perform a smartphone-supported responsible practice over a three-week period in their everyday lives outside the classroom. The 21 participating students were required to maintain a daily learning journal (diary) in which they reflected on their responsible practice and on how apps supported them. Through a thematic analysis of 557 mentions of apps in the learning process documented in learners' diaries we identified five types of app-agency (what apps do): cognitive, action, inter-personal, personal development, and material dimensions. Findings were interpreted through an actor-network perspective: With the help of apps, learners constructed a heterogeneous network of human and nonhuman actors. Each actor contributed parts of the necessary competence for responsible practices enactment, a heterogeneous competence network weaving a web of human and nonhuman competences. The process through which new actors are enrolled into such networks is called translation. In order to understand how apps enable responsible practice, we connected app agency to four moments of translation: problematization, interessement, enrolment, and mobilization. Based on our analysis of how the mentioning of apps in students' learning diaries changed over time, we further theorize app learning as a translation process. This translation process generates networked learning through recurrent translation cycles, each focused on enrolling a different set of actors with their competence into the network. We contribute to the learning for responsibility literature by showcasing how app-supported learning may create real-life actornetworks enacting responsibility, and by priming an actor-network pedagogy for 'learning in the wild'. We also contribute to the actor-network learning literature by conceptualizing heterogeneous competence and the first processual model of learning as the construction of competent actor networks through translation.

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“…This is the view of Actor-Network Theory (ANT) (Latour, 1993(Latour, , 1997 which has been quite popular within the Networked Learning community, as witnessed in the graph of theoretical perspectives presented in the Introduction chapter (cf. also Fenwick & Edwards, 2010;Fox, 2002Fox, , 2005. It is a systemic approach to learning, where individual learners' interaction and learning may be analyzed as a result of socio-material entanglement with objects and other people, as in Wright and Parchoma (2014), cf.…”

Section: The 'Network' Is a Network Of Situations Or Contexts (Issue mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflections and Challenges in Networked Learning

et al. 2018

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In our introductory chapter, we identified some general trends in Networked Learning research as they have emerged and faded over the years since the first Networked Learning conference in 1998. This acknowledges the 10 th biennial conference in 2016 and the development of research within the field to which the conference series bears witness. It serves also to provide a backdrop for the nine chapters providing the body of this book, based as they are on selected papers from the 10th biennial conference, and speaking as they do to this developing field. In this final chapter, we look back on the issues taken up in the nine chapters and reflect on how they combine to characterize the field of Networked Learning today -with a view to the identified trends of the past and a look to emerging issues for the future. We start with a short recapitulation of the focus of the book's parts and the individual chapters, thereby also providing the reader with an overview of the content of the book. This leads us in the second section of this chapter where we identify broader themes which point out significant perspectives and challenges for future research and practice within Networked Learning.

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Studying Networked Learning: Some Implications from Socially Situated Learning Theory and Actor Network Theory

Cited by 27 publications

References 10 publications

Technology‐mediated learning theory

Technology‐mediated learning theory

Responsible Practices in the Wild: An Actor-Network Perspective on Mobile Apps in Learning as Translation(s)

Reflections and Challenges in Networked Learning

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