Fenwick, T., & Edwards, R. (2010).Chapter 2: Knowledge, innovation and knowing in practice pp. 24 – 39. Actor-network theory in education. contribute the following ideas to the discussion based around their:
Actor
Network
Theory
They contribute the following ideas to the discussion:
Perspectives of knowledge and knowledge production are seen as situated, embodied and distributed p.24.
ANT = a such a perspective challenges expertise to acknowledge its own mechanics. p.25.
It is dangerous to assume that competence resides in an individual p.26
Competence is an effect p.27 and is passed through organisations as a result of minute translations at mundane levels of everyday knowledge flow patterns p.28.
Activity is organised through the order or sequence which is applied to carrying out tasks p.28.
Unpacking is a means of making sense of the information that has been gathered p.30
Knowing is more a form of interacting and experimenting than a re-representation of information p. 31
Are we part of one world, or multiple worlds in which we dwell? p.32
Global redistribution is challenging the concepts and flows of information and adding new layers of control and definition of what constitutes knowledge. Multiple ontologies are not equally powerful and the impact of dominance of some over others needs to be monitored p.33
“Knowledge cannot be viewed as coherent, transcendent, generalizable and unproblematic; knowledge and the real merge together”
Knowledge can no longer be seen as a rhetoric of conclusions, but rather a rhetoric of contentions p.35.
Recognition of human and non-human linkages that are not stable, predictable or identifiable neutral or linear tunnels of knowledge flow but multiple interconnected forms requiring analysis and consideration p. 37.
Conflicted knowledge is often developed simultaneously, added to, modified and adjusted by a variety of people 37.
Acknowledging ANT assists with avoiding exclusion and privilege in terms of knowledge p.37.
And going beyond the recommended chapter:
Logical meaning of concepts and processes applied to analyse education are less important than the investigations and analyses of educational processes that are carried out p.144.
Whichever way you look at it, it is important that these aspects of knowledge networking and learning are continually evaluated and assessed in order to ensure that knowledge development is sound and achieving the desired goals.