This book outlines a methodology based on actor-network theory (ANT) and praxiography and applies this to the field of medical education. Drawn from a detailed account of practice in a medical setting, this book shows how researchers in education and medical education can learn to work with ANT approaches and attune to different insights in practice. The book gives a detailed account of what actor-network theory can bring to research, through the investigation of social and material networks. The philosophical underpinnings of actor-network theory are presented as the basis of this emerging methodology, through an exploration of learning as disruption, practice as human and material assemblages, and power as regulated difference in worlds of practice. This is a qualitative approach for exploring complexity that does not attempt to represent or reduce but allows for unique insights into practice that might otherwise be overlooked. With a robust grounding in practice and professional learning and actor-network theory, this book will be of great interest for academics, scholars, and postgraduate students in the field of research methods and medical education.

This book outlines a methodology based on actor-network theory (ANT) and praxiography and applies this to the field of medical education. Drawn from a detailed account of practice in a medical setting, this book shows how researchers in education and medical education can learn to work with ANT approaches and attune to different insights in practice. The book gives a detailed account of what actor-network theory can bring to research, through the investigation of social and material networks. The philosophical underpinnings of actor-network theory are presented as the basis of this emerging methodology, through an exploration of learning as disruption, practice as human and material assemblages, and power as regulated difference in worlds of practice. This is a qualitative approach for exploring complexity that does not attempt to represent or reduce but allows for unique insights into practice that might otherwise be overlooked. With a robust grounding in practice and professional learning and actor-network theory, this book will be of great interest for academics, scholars, and postgraduate students in the field of research methods and medical education.

Working with Uncertainty for Educational Change explores the liberating possibilities for those who seek to embrace existing research into uncertainty and complexity at diverse levels in the world of education. The lives of education professionals are built upon a multitude of decision-making events that frame each working day. With a range of expert contributors, this insightful book brings together varied perspectives on the nature of complexity within educational contexts, focusing particularly on the emotional work involved in change. Organised into two major parts, its first part focuses on the intellectual challenge of thinking about uncertainty by exploring the dominant discourses of certainty in the field of education. The second part, on the other hand, considers how we can embrace uncertainty within practice by exploring conditions that support reflection, agency and acceptance of ambiguity. Presenting themes on a wide range of educational issues including curriculum, pedagogy, equity, leadership and professional learning, this book will appeal to teachers, educational leaders, practitioners and researchers as well as students on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes with an education focus.

Actor-network theory (ANT) has enjoyed wide uptake in the social sciences in the past three decades, particularly in science and technology studies, and is increasingly attracting the attention of educational researchers. Across these diverse environments and uptakes, the authors trace how learning and practice - as assemblages of activity, actors and spaces - emerge, show what scales are at play, and demonstrate what this means for educational possibilities.

Active learning occurs when a learning task can be related in a non-arbitrary manner to what the learner already knows and when there is a personal recognition of the links between concepts. The most important element of active learning is not so much in how information is presented, but how new information is integrated into an existing knowledge base. In order to successfully implement active learning into higher education, its effect on student engagement must be studied and considered. The Handbook of Research on Active Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education focuses on assessing the effectiveness of active learning and constructivist teaching to promote student engagement and provides a wide range of strategies and frameworks to help educators and other practitioners examine the benefits, challenges, and opportunities for using active learning approaches to maximize student learning. Covering topics such as online learning environments and engagement approaches, this major reference work is ideal for academicians, practitioners, researchers, librarians, industry professionals, educators, and students.

The field of the medical humanities is developing rapidly, however, there has also been parallel concern from sceptics that the value of medical humanities educational interventions should be open to scrutiny and evidence. Just what is the impact of medical humanities provision upon the education of medical students? In an era of limited resources, is such provision worth the investment? This innovative text addresses these pressing questions, describes the contemporary territory comprising the medical humanities in medical education, and explains how this field may be developed as a key medical education component for the future. Bleakley, a driving force of the international movement to establish the medical humanities as a core and integrated provision in the medical curriculum, proposes a model that requires collaboration between patients, artists, humanities scholars, doctors and other health professionals, in developing medical students’ sensibility (clinical acumen based on close noticing) and sensitivity (ethical, professional and humane practice). In particular, this text focuses upon how medical humanities input into the curriculum can help to shape the identities of medical students as future doctors who are humane, caring, expressive and creative – whose work will be technically sound but considerably enhanced by their abilities to communicate well with patients and colleagues, to empathise, to be adaptive and innovative, and to act as ‘medical citizens’ in shaping a future medical culture as a model democracy where social justice is a key aspect of medicine. Making sense of the new wave of medical humanities in medical education scholarship that calls for a ‘critical medical humanities’, Medical Humanities and Medical Education incorporates a range of case studies and illustrative and practical examples to aid integrating medical humanities into the medical curriculum. It will be important reading for medical educators and others working with the medical education community, and all those interested in the medical humanities.

Actor-Network Theory and Technology Innovation: Advancements and New Concepts provides a comprehensive look at the development of actor-network theory itself, as well as case studies of its use to assist in the explanation of various socio-technical phenomena. This book includes topics relating to technological innovation; both those using actor-network theory as an explanatory framework and those using other approaches. It is an excellent source of information regarding ANT as an approach to technological innovation and its link to ICT (Information Communication Technology).

RESEARCHING MEDICAL EDUCATION Researching Medical Education is an authoritative guide to excellence in educational research within the healthcare professions presented by the Association for the Study of Medical Education and AMEE. This text provides readers with key foundational knowledge, while introducing a range of theories and how to use them, illustrating a diversity of methods and their use, and giving guidance on practical researcher development. By linking theory, design, and methods across the spectrum of health professions education research, the text supports the improvement of quality, capacity building, and knowledge generation. Researching Medical Education includes contributions from experts and emerging researchers from five continents. The text includes information on: Developing yourself and your practice as a health professions education researcher Methods and methodologies including ethnography/digital ethnography, visual methods, critical discourse analysis, functional and corpus linguistics, critical pedagogy, critical race theory and participatory action research, and educational neuroscience methods Theories including those where relationships between context, environment, people and things matter (e.g., complexity theory, activity theory, sociomateriality, social cognitive theories and participatory practice) and those which are more individually focused (e.g., health behaviour theories, emotions in learning, instructional design, cognitive load theory and deliberate practice) Includes 10 brand new chapters Researching Medical Education is the ideal resource for anyone researching health professions education, from medical school to postgraduate training to continuing professional development. “This is an extraordinary text that combines theory and practice in medical education research. The authors represent the who’s who of medical education research, and their wisdom and insights will help guide novice and experienced researchers alike.” —David M. Irby, Professor Emeritus of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, USA “Research in health professions education is maturing. This is clearly evidenced by the second edition of Researching Medical Education. In 30 chapters this book takes you on an exciting voyage on research theories and research methodologies. This book is a comprehensive resource for anyone engaging in research in health professions education.” — Cees van der Vleuten, former Director of the School of Health Professions Education, Maastricht University, The Netherlands

Actor-network theory (ANT) is enjoying a notable surge of interest in educational research. New directions and questions are emerging along with new empirical approaches, as educators bring unique sensibilities and commitments to the ongoing debates and reconfigurations that characterise ANT-inspired research. Ethics and politics are now figuring more prominently in ANT-related educational publications, as are educational policy and the critical studies of assessment practices. Research on digital technology in education has also attracted critical exploration with ANT approaches. This book gathers together articles that address important educational issues while showing creative theoretical and methodological possibilities for ANT studies in education. This book aims to locate these contributions within broader trajectories of inquiry in education and sociomaterial approaches considered worthy of attention, given the challenges facing educators today. It also raises critical questions about what appear to be certain oversights or less helpful ideas in what is emerging in the field.

"Carol Bacchi's scholarship is both substantial and wide-ranging. Beginning her academic career as a historian in the field of English-Canadian women's suffrage, Bacchi has made innovative and insightful contributions to the fields of feminist theory, critical policy studies, and post-structuralist theory. One of the characteristic traits of her scholarship is her interest in revising and revisiting analytic problems from a range of perspectives... This resolute analytical rigour is undoubtedly evident in Bacchi's 'What's the Problem Represented to be?' ('WPR') approach, which is perhaps her most crucial contribution to intellectual inquiry and certainly one of the most innovative analytical frameworks developed in recent times... This book illuminates, commemorates, and builds upon Bacchi's 'WPR' approach. It outlines the trajectory of the development of the 'WPR' approach from Bacchi's early engagements with feminist thinking, as an academic in scholarly environments which were often the preserve of men, towards the theoretical sophistication of an approach which requires an ongoing critical assessment of assumptions about the social world, social 'problems', policy agendas deemed to respond to those 'problems', and the researcher's positioning. This book arose out of a conference organised by the Fay Gale Centre for Research on Gender at The University of Adelaide honouring Carol Bacchi's work and is intended to make that work accessible to a range of audiences." - from the Introduction, by Angeliques Bletsas and Chris Beasley.