Lecturer professional identities in gamification: a socio-material perspective

Abstract

Online gamification is an innovative educational practice, yet little is known about how the socio-material imbrications entailed in this pedagogical approach influence educator professional identities. Adopting a social-material sensibility to examine lecturer professional identities, this qualitative study mobilises visual-elicitation interviews and observations to understand the nuanced lecturer identity positions emanating from Kahoot! gamified practice in a Middle East college. Following a socio-material narrative analysis, the imbrication of people and Kahoot! reveals four distinct identity positionings underpinned by the material affordances and constraints of gamification. This study contributes to the growing body of research into how subject positions are manifested through the imbrications of human actors and materiality, revealing that the enactment of Kahoot! is not a neutral process, but one which may have transformative effects for lecturer professional identities in the higher education gamification context.