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Metaphor and the Social World: Online-First ArticlesEducational technology, higher education discourses and the lived experience of lecturers as users
Exploring the metaphors
Technological innovations, under the aegis of ‘technology-enhanced learning’ (TEL), are high on policy agenda in
higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UK and elsewhere. These developments have a direct impact on the conditions of
teaching and learning. The socio-cultural dimension – the impact of change on working communities and their practices and beliefs
on the ground – appears under-researched in empirical work (Selwyn, 2022). This paper
reports on a qualitative study incorporating an analysis of linguistic metaphors that attempted to investigate that gap in one
institutional context.
It begins with a critical review of metaphors associated with policy and educational technology innovation in
education discourses more broadly. Teaching staff were interviewed from across the institution’s main faculties. The interview
transcripts formed a databank of naturally occurring language. Respondents used a range of metaphors, both conventional and novel,
revealing insights into the affective and sociocultural dimensions of experience and understanding as well as perceptions of
changing professional roles. For triangulation, linguistic analyses of relevant documentary sources, where available, were made
and an example is included here. Overall, a more nuanced understanding of lecturers’ lived experience and engagement with
educational technology was achieved by focusing on their metaphor usage.
Keywords: educational technologies, higher education, ethnographic research, critical discourse analysis, linguistic metaphors
Article outline
- 1.Educational technology, education policy and metaphor: A critical overview
- 2.Aims and approach
- 3.Conduct and methods
- 4.Examples from the spoken data
- 5.Discussion
-
References
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