Conceptions of Work and the Materiality of the Classroom

Infrastructure studies have focused attention on invisible work as a topic of concern for system design, pointing to the ways important roles may be lost if they are not recognized. This paper extends this engagement with invisible work by describing how conceptions of work in the classroom are influenced by material configurations. Based on ethnographic observations and a design intervention, I consider tensions between this invisible work and a group’s shared competence, arguing that altering material configurations can reveal invisible work and challenge existing conceptions and values. In the context of the collaborative work of the classroom this can result in the surfacing of individual perspectives that must be negotiated.

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