Reassembled resemblings’ of teachers’ learning practices with Twitter

Bibliographic Data

ID12779015
AuthorsIvor Guest (0000-0002-0228-4006, Sheffield Hallam University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume19
Issue3
Pages267-284
Publication date2020-09-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueExplorations in Media Ecology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1539-7785 • E-ISSN: 2048-0717
PublisherIntellect (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1386/eme_00046_1
OpenAlexW3083231949
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited13

Some teachers claim Twitter has become a useful source for their professional development and learning. As a social media platform, Twitter constitutes a heterogeneous ensemble of humans and things. However, research has yet to allow the nonhuman participants in Twitter to speak for themselves, reveal what they do and present the webs of relations that they enact. I offer here an approach to address that issue by drawing upon actor-network theory and interviewing objects, whilst evoking the spirit of the Parisian flâneur. I begin by untangling a tweet to identify each of the human and nonhuman actors, what they do and how they assist in performing teachers’ learning activities. I then ‘Gather Anecdotes’ describing how two other heuristics – ‘Following the Actors’ and ‘Studying Breakdowns’ – were appropriate for this study, how they were deployed, what fresh knowledge they produced and how a new research avenue was opened. I conclude by reflecting on some of the tensions which emerged when bringing a sociomaterial analysis to teachers’ practices

Actor–network theory · Epistemology · Heuristics · Interview · Social media · Social science · Sociology · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Digital Education and Society · Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods · Literacy, Media, and Education · Psychology

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