Actor-network theory and online university teaching : translation versus diffusion

The stories we tell each other about change and innovation in education are important. Much of the research literature concerned with change and innovation in education as in other fields has been strongly informed and influenced by the tenets of diffusion theory. This paper describes an alternative approach to the study of educational innovation and change which is hased on a sociology of translation or actor-network theory (ANT). ANT rejects cause and effect or factor-based accounts of change and focuses on understanding how alliances and associations of people and things are made, strengthened and weakened.