Networked Professional Learning in the Postdigital Age: Asking Critical Questions of Postgraduate Education

Abstract

Taking the notion of the postdigital as its starting point, this chapter begins with my experience teaching in postgraduate teacher education courses. In postgraduate teacher education, professional learning is understood as being a ceaseless process. Mirroring the way, the concept of the postdigital illuminates our almost seamless relationship with digital technologies in education, the concept of lifelong learning highlights that education is now conceptualized as a continuous process of upskilling. This chapter explores the public pedagogical implications that occur with the use of social media sites for networked professional learning. Drawing on feminist theorizing and postdigital conceptualizations of education, this chapter asks critical questions about the promotion of social networking sites and reflects on the implications of those questions for postgraduate education. This postdigital analysis of Twitter demonstrates the utility of postdigital theory as a reflective tool when applied to postgraduate education.