The (Im)Materiality of Educational Space: Interactions between Material, Connected and Textual Dimensions of Networked Technology Use in Schools

Abstract

In contributing to understanding about the barriers and opportunities associated with new technologies in educational settings, this article explores dimensions of the educational spaces associated with using networked technologies in contemporary classrooms. After considering how educational spaces may be ‘produced’ (to use Lefebvre's term), it draws on narratives of classroom practice to explore three dimensions of educational space – material, connected and textual – and considers the implications that these, and the relationships between them, may have for the use of networked technologies in education. It concludes by setting an agenda for future research, arguing that more extensive empirical work is needed to explore how these dimensions intersect and the implications this has for pedagogy. The need for such research is seen as particularly pressing given increased calls for transformative pedagogies which demand new ways of interacting within and between educational spaces.