IP 10The New Materialist turn
Morgan Arksey - for ETEC 565B
What Some knowledge Is
Educational technology doesn’t just deliver information; it materializes a certain idea of what some knowledge is.
Enlightenment RationalismKnowledge as Universal Reason
Behaviourism Knowledge as Observable Performance
Information Literacy Era Knowledge as Vetted Content
PlatoKnowledge as Eternal Fixed Truth
EmpiricismKnowledge as Observable Measurable Fact
Bloom's Taxonomy Knowledge as Hierarchical Cognitive Skills
What Knowledge also is
Knowledge is not a fixed object but an ongoing process of becoming, shaped through entanglements among people, technologies, materials, and discourses.
When a phenomenon can’t be isolated or measured without losing what makes it meaningful, New Materialism gives us a way to understand knowledge through relations rather than reduction.
Entangled
Material-Discursive
Intra-active
Always Becoming
How does Ed Tech Shape Knowledge
The Activity
CHOOSE A HEATED TOPIC
SEARCH THREE TOOLS
COMPARE WHAT APPEARS
Unpacking What we found
The Debrief
How does each tool assemble knowledge?
Click QR code to go to form!
How to Read Technology Differently
Diffractive Reading through a New Materialist Lens
What differences did this technology create? How do design choices, defaults, and infrastructures shape what appears as knowledge? What forms of understanding become easier or harder through this tool?
eg - Did Google foreground institutional sources while TikTok surfaced personal testimonies?
eg - Do search results portray a specific bias?
eg - Did visual or multimodal elements help you grasp concepts that text alone couldn't convey?
Ask What Worlds Tech Makes Possible
Read Through Differences
Notice Patterns
References
Barad, K. (2003). Posthumanist performativity: Toward an understanding of how matter comes to matter. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 28(3), 801–831. Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388128 Charteris, J., Smardon, D., & Nelson, E. (2017). Innovative learning environments and new materialism: A conjunctural analysis of pedagogic spaces. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 49(8), 808–821. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2017.1298035 Hill, C. M. (2017). More-than-reflective practice: Becoming a diffractive practitioner. Teacher Learning and Professional Development, 2. https://journals.sfu.ca/tlpd/index.php/tlpd/article/view/28 Jenson, J., De Castell, S., Thumlert, K., & Muehrer, R. (2016). Deep assessment: An exploratory study of game-based, multimodal learning in Epidemic. Digital Culture & Education, 8(1), 20–40. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5cf15af7a259990001706378/t/5cf45bf5ebbb540001edaa9c/1559518200846/jenson+%28March+2016%29.pdf Monforte, J. (2018). What is new in new materialism for a newcomer? Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 10(3), 378–390. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676x.2018.1428678 Toohey, K. (2018). Learning English at School. Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781788920094
IP 10 The New Materialist turn
Morgan Arksey
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Transcript
IP 10The New Materialist turn
Morgan Arksey - for ETEC 565B
What Some knowledge Is
Educational technology doesn’t just deliver information; it materializes a certain idea of what some knowledge is.
Enlightenment RationalismKnowledge as Universal Reason
Behaviourism Knowledge as Observable Performance
Information Literacy Era Knowledge as Vetted Content
PlatoKnowledge as Eternal Fixed Truth
EmpiricismKnowledge as Observable Measurable Fact
Bloom's Taxonomy Knowledge as Hierarchical Cognitive Skills
What Knowledge also is
Knowledge is not a fixed object but an ongoing process of becoming, shaped through entanglements among people, technologies, materials, and discourses.
When a phenomenon can’t be isolated or measured without losing what makes it meaningful, New Materialism gives us a way to understand knowledge through relations rather than reduction.
Entangled
Material-Discursive
Intra-active
Always Becoming
How does Ed Tech Shape Knowledge
The Activity
CHOOSE A HEATED TOPIC
SEARCH THREE TOOLS
COMPARE WHAT APPEARS
Unpacking What we found
The Debrief
How does each tool assemble knowledge?
Click QR code to go to form!
How to Read Technology Differently
Diffractive Reading through a New Materialist Lens
What differences did this technology create? How do design choices, defaults, and infrastructures shape what appears as knowledge? What forms of understanding become easier or harder through this tool?
eg - Did Google foreground institutional sources while TikTok surfaced personal testimonies?
eg - Do search results portray a specific bias?
eg - Did visual or multimodal elements help you grasp concepts that text alone couldn't convey?
Ask What Worlds Tech Makes Possible
Read Through Differences
Notice Patterns
References
Barad, K. (2003). Posthumanist performativity: Toward an understanding of how matter comes to matter. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 28(3), 801–831. Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388128 Charteris, J., Smardon, D., & Nelson, E. (2017). Innovative learning environments and new materialism: A conjunctural analysis of pedagogic spaces. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 49(8), 808–821. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2017.1298035 Hill, C. M. (2017). More-than-reflective practice: Becoming a diffractive practitioner. Teacher Learning and Professional Development, 2. https://journals.sfu.ca/tlpd/index.php/tlpd/article/view/28 Jenson, J., De Castell, S., Thumlert, K., & Muehrer, R. (2016). Deep assessment: An exploratory study of game-based, multimodal learning in Epidemic. Digital Culture & Education, 8(1), 20–40. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5cf15af7a259990001706378/t/5cf45bf5ebbb540001edaa9c/1559518200846/jenson+%28March+2016%29.pdf Monforte, J. (2018). What is new in new materialism for a newcomer? Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 10(3), 378–390. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676x.2018.1428678 Toohey, K. (2018). Learning English at School. Multilingual Matters. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781788920094