Web-Based Education Accountability System and Organisational Changes: An Actor-Network Approach

Abstract

The learning and accountability needs in a teacher education department drove the development of a novel, web-based Education Accountability System (EAS). To fit the EAS with the organization, Actor-Network Theory (ANT) was used to guide the social and technological development. In the course of fitting the technology to the educational setting, a novel multi-dimensional perspective to ANT was formalized. Four dimensions of organizational culture, politics, process, and profession were used. Participant observation, field notes, and interviews were used to reveal how standard teacher education practices were created and recreated. Detailed translations occurring at multiple levels provided insight into the technical agency of the EAS and showed technology shaped the emergence of a socio-technical solution for a teacher education program.