{"id":13006,"date":"2016-04-04T12:37:30","date_gmt":"2016-04-04T12:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jenrossity.net\/blog\/?p=13006"},"modified":"2017-06-15T09:49:41","modified_gmt":"2017-06-15T09:49:41","slug":"speculative-method-in-digital-education-research-my-new-open-access-article","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jenrossity.net\/blog\/?p=13006","title":{"rendered":"“Speculative method in digital education research” – my new (open access) article"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"'sliced'<\/a>
‘sliced’ – Pekka Nikrus – https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/skrubu\/2459852876\/<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’m delighted to share my new journal article<\/a>, which has just appeared online in Learning, Media and Technology<\/a>. The article is available completely open access, so it’s free for everyone to download and share.<\/p>\n

The article, titled ‘Speculative method in digital education research<\/a>‘<\/strong>, explores the concept of ‘speculative’ (or ‘inventive’) methods, commonly found in art and design disciplines but also increasingly in the social sciences, and argues\u00a0that digital education researchers need\u00a0these kinds of approaches if we’re to engage critically and imaginatively with issues in our field. Such an\u00a0approach, as Lury and Wakeford put it:<\/p>\n

is explicitly oriented towards an investigation of the open-endedness of the social world.\u2009\u2026\u2009the\u00a0happening\u00a0<\/i>of the social world \u2013 its ongoingness, relationality, contingency and sensuousness. (Lury and Wakeford\u00a02012<\/a><\/span>, 2)<\/p>\n

In the article I\u00a0argue\u00a0that the current educational research climate\u00a0is at best ambivalent, if not actually hostile, to \u00a0open-endedness.\u00a0Work with Amy Collier on our\u00a0concept of ‘not-yetness’<\/a> (see Amy’s recent blog posts on ‘not-yetness and learnification<\/a>‘ and ‘not-yetness and love<\/a>‘ for more on her latest thinking about the concept; and stay tuned for our chapter in George Veletsianos’ edited collection<\/a>, coming in May) was helpful here in framing future directions for digital education research:<\/p>\n

in such a sphere of not-yetness, we must work with approaches to research which aim beyond determining \u2018what works\u2019, to engage in \u2018intelligent problem solving\u2019 (Biesta\u00a02010<\/a><\/span>) and \u2018inventive problem-making\u2019 (Michael\u00a02012<\/a><\/span>). These approaches can produce valuable insights and contribute to a flourishing ecosystem of knowledge practices that can respond flexibly to not-yetness. (p.1)<\/p>\n

The article draws on three examples of speculative method, coming from work in the Centre for Research in Digital Education<\/a>:<\/p>\n