I would like to invite you to be a contributor to a crowd-authored book that will be written by a large number of academics from around the world. Actually, as you may know, I and other 98 academics previously 'crowd-authored' an academic manuscript entitled Academic Domains as Political Battlegrounds. This crowd-authoring experience was successful, in the sense that the authored manuscript was published in a SAGE journal (Information Development Journal, Impact Factor 0.787).

Being inspired by this positive experience, I plan to start a similar project: composing a book that lists non-educational and non-technological theories and approaches/notions and argue for their benefit for education and technology. This book is edited by me and shall consist of contributions from 200 academics. Each academic contributes with only one non-educational and non-technological theory and one non-educational and non-technological approach/notion, which he or she believes might benefit the field of education and technology and could be used by researchers of education and technology. This means that the book will consist of 200 theories and 200 approaches/notions. Contributors are not expected to come up with a new theory, but rather to refer to a pre-existing, generic theory and argue for its possible benefit to the field of education and technology. The concept of education is used loosely here, including formal and informal learning, educational and professional learning (e.g. learning in the workplace). Below is more information about the project.

Working Title

Non-Educational and Non-Technological Theories and Approaches: A Proposal by 200 Academics

Rationales

This project is inspired by the belief that the field of education and technology should be further examined beyond education and technology. That is, educational and technological issues should be viewed through non-educational and non-technological lens, e.g. social, cultural, economic, political, architectural, Linguistic, philosophical, anthropological, archaeological, ethic, ethnic, geographical, psychological, sociological, biological, mathematical, agricultural, journalism, law lens. There are a large number of theories in different fields that can be of benefit to the field of education and technology, and yet we do not know about them. Hence, the current book/article has been proposed to address the following two questions:

• What theories are out there outside the field of education and technology?
• How could these theories be used in the field of education and technology?

To address these two questions, we need to spare time to read in fields that are not ours, i.e. in fields that do not 'seem' to benefit our field although they might do hold benefit for us. We need to play with theories from other fields and see if they could be any (even little and indirect) relevant to our field as well. We need to be confident, curious and critical to be able to construct a theoretical bridge between our field and other fields. This is a challenging mission, but we can do it. Let us push the boundary of education and technology and take researchers in this field outside their academic comfort zone by bringing to them from other fields theories and approaches that they are not used to.  An invitee remarked: 'As I see almost all of future co-authors are choosing educational theories and not from other fields as you suggested'. Considering such a remark, all potential contributors are supposed to go beyond the theories of education and technology. An invitee to this project responded to the invitation: 'Thanks for the invite but given that I am ‘educational’, I have to decline.' So, the question is: 'Who is responsible for examining education and technology beyond education and technology?' If not us, then who?  

Usefulness

The proposed book is expected to help with expanding the field and bringing in new approaches, especially given that the field has been burdened with certain theories and approaches form previous centuries. The book is hoped to help with building up parameters and bases for the field, with establishing 'partnership' with other fields and with benchmarking against well-established and developed fields . It will hopefully be used as a reference book, especially given the lack of reference books in the field. It is expected to help researchers during the course of constructing theoretical frameworks for their articles. It shall encourage students of education and technology to explore new, fresh approaches to education and technology. It is hoped to encourage researchers to see educational and technological issues from theoretical (and thus philosophical) perspectives, just as much as they normally see them from practical and technical perspectives.

Contributors' Task

Each contributor is supposed to contribute with:

• One pre-existing, generic, major non-educational and non-technological theory.
• One pre-existing, generic, major non-educational and non-technological approach/notion.

There is a difference between theories and approaches/notions. A theory can be defined as something that helps us better understand the world and the functionality of human society. Yet, a notion/approach can  be defined as something that helps us improve the world and that calls for some kind of intervention in social affairs. Whereas a theory shows us how things are done, a approach/notion shows us how things should be done. To illustrate, Flipping Classrooms or Augmented Reality is an approach/notion, not a theory. Yet, homophily (i.e., "love of the same" or the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others) is a theory, not a approach/notion. A theory is about explanation (i.e. explaining the world and how human society functions), whereas a concept is about description (describing the world and how human society should function). The field of education and technology entails more notions/approaches and less theories, because this field tends more to direct, describe and advise and less to theorise and explain. Researchers of education and technology tend to see themselves more of technicians/practitioners and less of philosophers.

Aim of the Book

The project aims to:

• Identify non-educational and non-technological theories that help us understand technology in education.
• Identify non-educational and non-technological approaches/notions that help us improve technology in education.

Accordingly, what a contributor is expected to do is to write two things:

• A Theory: You are supposed to write 200 words defining a generic, pre-existing theory from whatever field, and then to write 200 words arguing how the chosen theory could possible help us better understand technology in education.
• An Approach/Notion: You are supposed to write 200 words defining a generic, pre-exiting concept/notion from whatever field, and then writing 200 words arguing how the chosen approach/notion could help us improve technology in education.

Book Structure

Each contribution of contributors will be presented as a chapter, meaning that it can be cited and referenced as a chapter in a book. So, there will be 400 chapters - (I know, this is a lot of chapters, but let us try to challenge the convention regarding the number and structure of book chapters!). 200 chapters will be for theories, and 200 chapters for concepts.

Things to Consider

• The theory you would like to write about does not have to be related to the approach/notion that you would like to write about. That said, at times, approaches/notions may have theories behind them. Also, a theory and approach/notion can carry the same name, but the way they are written and are presented makes them different, making one a theory and the other an approach/concept.
• To decide on a theory and concept, contributors may consult on Wikipedia the long list of academic disciplines (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_academic_disciplines) and also the book Dictionary of theories by Bothamley which has over 5000 theories. Our book is different from Bothamley's book in three ways: (a.) Its authorship approach is different; (b.) The structure of its chapters is different; and (c.) Its focus is different, in that it focuses on the field of education and technology.

Registration

If you are interested in contributing to the project, could you please let me know, and I will register your name? You need to also let me know the theory that you would like to write about, so as to ensure that you do not write about a theory that is another contributor is already writing about.

Cooperation

I would appreciate it if you could kindly forward this email to those who you think  might be interested. Indeed, contributors can be from outside the field of education and technology. No degree is required to be part of this project. Education and technology is a field 'for all'. That is, anyone who has experience with education and technology should be allowed to contribute to the field of education and technology, regardless of the background or field that he or she comes from and regardless of whether he or she has a degree. We have 100 contributors so far:

Best,

Abdul

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Abdulrahman Al Lily, PhD/DPhil (Oxford/Oxon)

Member of Common Room, Wolfson College, Oxford

Assistant Professor, King Faisal University

Saudi Arabia, Al Ahsa, Post Code 31982, Post Box 346

ORCID: 0000-0002-5116-422X

Email: [email protected]

Personal Website: https://abdulallily.wordpress.com/