Part II. Relational, Spatial, and Sociomaterial Conditions of Agency

Abstract

In this paper I will apply a relational, sociocultural notion of “affordances” to explore the possibilities and constraints, or affordances, that post-digital learning environments offer to learner agency and cultivation of relevant skills. I will thus develop an argument emphasizing that since the postdigital learning affordances are pronouncedly multifunctional, transjective and subject to social shaping, they hold great power to enhance and advance learner agency and enskilment. However, they also hold great potential to generate opposite effects, that is, to induce learner passivity, deskilment and loss of agency over the ultimate ends and consequences of postdigital learning projects. These contrasting possibilities highlight the important role played by the key “composers” and “orchestrators” of postidigital learning affordances (e.g., tech companies and technology developers, policymakers, teachers, senior practitioners and experts) in scripting and governing the situated framing of postidigital affordances in ways that would enable, rather than constrain, the enactment and meaningful advancement of agency and enskilment for learners.