Sociotechnical Imaginaries In Education
This event is co-hosted with the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)
27th April, 2.30-4.30pm
Online OR in-person (Charteris Land 5.11, Moray House School of Education and Sport)
About
This seminar will foreground the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries, in order to examine the ways in which visions of desirable futures shape the relationships between education and technology. Sociotechnical imaginaries call attention to the ways depictions of the future reveal profound insights, not only in relation to the societal norms and values of the present, but also about the structures of power through which technologies, societies, and futures are made. Furthermore, sociotechnical imaginaries are performative, in the sense that they solidify and institutionalise particular kinds of futures over others. Given that the discussion of technology in higher education is habitually accompanied by an array of predictions, forecasts and prophesies about the future of the sector, sociotechnical imaginaries offer a potent means of critically appraising suggestions of the digital university. This seminar will bring together three prominent scholars utilising the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries in their current education research.
Dr Lina Rahm (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm), Dr Barbara Hof (University of Lausanne, Switzerland), and Dr Jeremy Knox (University of Edinburgh, UK) will each provide a 20-minute talk on their respective research, followed by group discussion.