Discovering a nexus between research and praxis : researching an educational technology (interactive video-conferencing)

Before starting my doctorate I knew that I wanted to combine my research with my teaching. I decided that researching an educational innovation that I was using to support my teaching at Central Queensland University (CQU) would be a suitable subject for my doctoral research work. My research topic is to study the design, development, implementation and use of the interactive video-conferencing network at CQU (known locally as ISL – Interactive System-wide Learning). This paper is an analysis of how the assemblage of ISL facilities got to be as it is at CQU in 2003. My conceptual framework is informed by Actor-Network Theory (ANT) (Callon, 1986; Latour, 1988; Law & Callon, 1988) which addresses both the social and the technical dimensions of the educational innovation called ISL. My doctoral journey has allowed me to discover many things about the design, development and implementation of educational technology innovations and how to ensure they become durable (part of everyday practice). I have learnt how to negotiate with various technologies and people to ensure that new technologies will be accepted and used to support teaching and learning.