Advanced seminar in Media Technology

Sofia Lundmark, Fatima Jonsson: Navigating the theory-practice divide – Establishing academic identities within a practice-based educational setting

Sofia Lundmark and Fatima Jonsson are associate professors of Media Technology at Södertörn University. In this seminar they present a study of the production of knowledge regimes at the department of Media Technology.

Abstract: In this study we have especially looked at how tensions between practice and theory are reinforced, constructed and negotiated as occupationally organized forms of social interactions.
Media technology is one of many subject areas and institutional environments that relies on practical knowledge and skills, often build upon a learning by doing pedagogical approach. However, while there is a consensus about the benefits with practice-based learning, there has also been a strive towards an academization of the education that is not without complications, as more practice-oriented lecturers’ contributions to the education is devalued, and a higher academic education is required for advance one's career.
To investigate this theory-practice divide, we have used Joan Ackers theory about the gendering of organisation, to analyze material representing different levels of our professional identity.
The results demonstrate strong dissonance between different levels, explaining some of the problems with establishing academic identities within a practice-based educational setting.

The study is based on a collective memory-work by Sofia Lundmark, Fatima Jonsson, Camilla Qvick, Mats Nilsson and Karin Hansson