Neil Selwyn’s 10 principles for education & technology research

I’ve nearly finished John Potter’s: “Digital Media & Learner Identity: the new Curatorship” (2012) – hugely insightful in many and various ways… and in the penultimate chapter he quotes Neil Selwyn’s recommended conditions for research in the field. I haven’t read anything on the subject of principled research that is more resonant than this extract.

JP prefaces Selwyn’s 10 exhortations thus:

I would like to make the case for encouraging research and writing that
fulfils the following conditions—i.e. research and writing that . . .
1. . . . has nothing to sell
2. . . . is certain only of the uncertainty of it all
3. . . . is close (but not too close) to the digital technologies that are being
researched
4. . . . always asks “what is new here?”
5. . . . maintains a sense of history
6. . . . is aware of the global, national and local contexts of education and
technology
7. . . . engages with the politics of education and technology
8. . . . makes good use of theory when and where it is helpful
9. . . . is open-minded and curious when it comes to methodology—is
rigorous and appropriate when it comes to methods
10. . . . always considers how education, technology and society can be
made fairer.

“Ten Suggestions for Improving Academic Research in Education
and Technology.” Learning, Media and Technology , 1–7. doi:10.1080/17439884
.2012.680213.