A Sociology of Artefacts in Academic Practice: Everyday Encounters of Technologies in Use

Abstract

Digital technologies now pervade all areas of education, and EdTech actors increasingly configure society and educational practices in ways that are political, practical, and ideological. There is a need to understand digitalisation in critical ways, including how technologies reshape both educational practices and educators themselves. In this article, we examine how technologies act as more than mundane tools: pushing back, shaping action, and changing the ways in which academics experience their work and relations with the world. We interpret the ‘voices’ of key digital technologies such as Microsoft Teams, an institutional dashboard, and a student management system, by imagining educational technologies’ perspectives of working with teachers. This novel method of interviewing objects, we argue, enables us to attune to a ‘politics of the ordinary’ in educators’ working lives. How do digital technological artefacts affect higher education practices and educators’ relations with the world, and why might this matter?