Elsevier

Computers & Education

Volume 59, Issue 2, September 2012, Pages 785-792
Computers & Education

Virtual learning environments as sociomaterial agents in the network of teaching practice

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2012.03.023Get rights and content

Abstract

This article presents findings related to the sociomaterial agency of educators and their practice in Norwegian education. Using actor-network theory, we ask how Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) negotiate the agency of educators and how they shape their teaching practice. Since the same kinds of VLE tools have been widely implemented throughout Norwegian education, it is interesting to study how practices are formed in different parts of the educational system. This research is therefore designed as a case study of two different teaching contexts representing lecturers from a higher education institution and teachers from primary schools. Data are collected by means of interviews, online logging of VLE activities and self-reported personal logs. From the analysis of the data, three main networks of aligned interests can be identified. In each of those, the sociomaterial agency of the teaching practice with VLE is crucial in shaping and consolidating the network.

Highlights

► We examine teachers' practice with VLEs in primary and higher education. ► Actor-Network Theory is used to elucidate the sociomaterial agency of teachers. ► Three main sociomaterial networks are identified. ► The sociomaterial agency of teaching practice shapes and consolidates networks.

Introduction

To what extent digital technologies have an impact on the social practice of teaching is still an evolving field of research (Sutherland, Robertson, & John, 2008). A key issue is how educators define their teaching practice, what Schön (1983) describes as “knowledge-in-action”, the knowledge that is embedded in the skilled action of the professional. In many ways, educators may be described as the archetype of an autonomous professional, exercising professional agency (Turnbull, 2005) based on the heuristics of the professional code of practice. Such a code seems to be more important than the rules and regulations implemented in their institution's formal systems (Johannesen & Habib, 2010).

A sociomaterial perspective, as argued for in this article, places a special focus on the interrelationship between technologies as material tools and their social framings (Latour, 2005). In particular, the literature on sociomateriality highlights the importance of recognizing “the constitutive entanglement of the social and the material in everyday life” (Orlikowski, 2007, p. 1435). Westergren (2011), using an example from Coyne (2010), explicates how technologies can be seen as: “outcome of a tuning process (as in tuning a radio), where technology is positioned within a flow of material agency that is harnessed, directed and domesticated, this interactively stabilizing both material and human agency toward a human goal” (p. 27).

Our focus is on teaching practices, which are normally strongly inscribed with a definite pattern of action, i.e. a specific idea of what needs it addresses, whose needs those are, and what the end-result of the teaching process is meant to be. At the same time, educators have preconceptions, norms and values that come into play when they use learning technologies, which have an impact on their interpretations and translations of those technologies into practice. We narrow down our analysis to the use of virtual learning environments (VLE) within teaching practices. The existing literature on VLEs in educational settings gives relatively little attention to sociomaterial power relations in general, and to the agency of educators in particular, i.e. to their ability to act according to their pedagogical beliefs. Analysis of sociomaterial agency (Suchman, 2007, p. 261) implies an interest in studying the autonomy or boundedness of educators when using VLE as part of their teaching practices.

In this article we aim to investigate the negotiation processes that occur between VLE technologies and the agency of teaching staff members, with a particular focus on how VLEs may contribute to shaping teaching practices. We first attempt to provide a definition of the concept of VLE based on existing research. We then outline our conceptual framework grounded in Actor-Network Theory (ANT). We subsequently present the methods and data from a study that spans across different educational levels in the Norwegian education system. Finally, we describe three network constructions that may be delineated within the data presented.

Section snippets

Virtual learning environment

Technology development has spawned a significant interest in what virtual learning environments are and their implications for teaching and learning. Scholars in the field of education, in addition to those in e.g. anthropology, media, and computer science have made contributions to the notion of “virtual worlds”. However, Weiss (2006) considers that the notion of virtual learning environment is still unclear and requires further investigation. As learning technologies are becoming more

Conceptual framework

The notion of agency is described by Castor and Cooren (2006) as “the capacity to make a difference” (p. 573). Human capacity for self-objectification and self-direction is shaped by both social relations of power and their possibilities for liberation from these forces (Holland, Lachicotte Jr., Skinner, & Cain, 1998). Hence, in a study of pedagogical practice, it is necessary to understand the processes of negotiation, configuration and reconfiguration that are a part of teaching practice, and

Method and sampling

In this study, we use an interpretive ethno-methodological approach, framing studies of work as a social activity (Maynard & Clayman, 1991; Psathas, 1995). The study has been designed as an explorative case study, i.e. a detailed examination of a particular context for teaching practices (Yin, 1989). It is to be noted that commercial VLEs in Norway have been widely implemented all through the Norwegian educational system and thereby becoming a ubiquitous tool (ITU monitor, 2009; Norway Opening

Data analysis

In this section, we describe and discuss the findings emerging from the data analysis. The data collected allowed us to identify a number of teaching practices that had been developed over time with the use of the VLE. Some of those practices have been introduced deliberately, while others have emerged unintentionally. With the help of a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software, we identified a number of key concepts that appeared to be of significance to shed light on our research

Discussion

Our data analysis has helped us identify a set of core stakeholders and a set of core artefacts, which may all be referred to as actants and which are interrelated within webs of sociomaterial assemblages. Issues of governance, efficiency and supporting professional practices point towards the importance of studying the dynamic interrelationship between teaching practices and the use of VLEs as new spaces for teaching and learning. As presented above there are both similarities and differences

Conclusion

In this article, we have identified three major types of actor-networks that are relevant to processes of agency in the pedagogical practice of teachers and lecturers using VLEs. Within those networks we can distinguish two recurrent and overlapping themes. The first theme is that of the very sociomateriality of teaching practice with VLEs. The second is that of power relations that may be intensified by the use of VLEs, which are presumably significantly related to the ubiquitous nature of

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