In educational policy ICTs are often assumed to have the power to initiate and sustain creative and innovative approaches to education (Kearns 2002, McCormick & Scrimshaw 2001, Pelgrum & Law 2003). However, ICTs are not isolated agents of reform, nor is innovation a phenomenon that can be disembedded from practice.
This paper builds on data from a research project in Denmark where tablets (iPads) were understood to be at the centre of school development. The project focused on how tablets can contribute to creating inclusive learning environments in lower secondary school (children aged 13-14). Data were generated by fieldwork in a school in the west of Denmark, where iPads had been given to all teachers and pupils for the entire school year, and where five classes of seventh form pupils and their teachers were followed in their daily lives in the school.  Based on fieldwork data (interviews and classroom observations) the paper argues that innovation - though often conceptualised as centered in technology as singular and isolated agents (Sørensen 2009) - is part of the emergent relationships and functional shifts between artifacts and practices in the classroom. The paper specifically focuses on pupils' socio-material bricolages (Johri 2011), i.e the way different pupils choose to assemble and link different artifacts (eg jotters, iPads, books) to support and enhance their own learning with technology. The paper proposes that a relational and situated understanding of how ICTs contribute to educational innovation will underline the emergent nature of innovation in school development. The analytical framework for understanding innovation and change is inspired by Actor-Network Theory (for instance Fenwick & Edwards 2011, 2012, Latour 2005).

References

Fenwick, T. and Edwards, R. (2011) Introduction: Reclaiming and Renewing Actor Network Theory for Educational Research. Educational Philosophy and Theory. Vol 43, no 51,

Fenwick, T. and Edwards, R. (eds.) (2012) Researching education through actor-network theory. Wiley-Blackwell

Johri, A. (2011) The socio-materiality of learning practices and implications for the field of learning technology. Research in Learning Technology. Vol 19, no 3, 207-217

Kearns, P. (2002) Towards the Connected Learning Society. An international View of Trends in Policy for Information and Communication Technology in Education. Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training, Australia

Latour, B. (2005) Reassembling the social: An introduction to actor-network theory. Oxford University Press

McCormick, R. & Scrimshaw, P. (2001) Information and Communications Technology, Knowledge, Pedagogy. Education, Communication and Information, vol 1, no 1

Pelgrum, W.J. & Law, N.W.Y., ICT in Education Around the World: Trends, Problems and Prospects. UNESCO

Sørensen, E. (2009) The Materiality of Learning: Technology and Knowledge in Educational Practice. Cambridge University Press

Johri, A. (2011) The socio-materiality of learning practices and implications for the field of learning technology. Research in Learning Technology. Vol 19, No. 3. 207-217 Kearns, P. (2002) Towards the Connected Learning Society. An international View of Trends in Policy for Information and Communication Technology in Education. Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training, Australia Sørensen, E. (2007) STS goes to school: Spatial imaginaries of technology, knowledge and presence. Critical Social Studies. No 2. 15-27