The book has an introduction and three parts that, although interrelated, can be read independently. The controversies in the title are the relationships between the human and non-human actors that occur in the doing of assignments in classrooms. \u201cThis book is not necessarily about how teachers teach, learners learn, or how these relate to the digital evolution of classrooms, though these things are related to its topic. It is about dissecting the plot to see how student work actually gets done in modern college classrooms.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n The first part, \u2018Literacy, Technology and Society\u2019, lays out the concepts for the ideas developed in the book, and Actor Network Theory that guides the research. The review is written in such a way that it is not only essential for researchers in digital literacies, but also very useful for practitioners writing assignments or planning lessons in digital environments. The focus on practice and the relationships between human and non-human actors makes a refreshing change from some of the approaches to digital literacy offered to teachers and learners.<\/p>\n In Part II there are three cases of the practices of students doing assignments: Sara\u2019s Assignment on Childcare, Anne\u2019s Digital Portfolio, and Paolo\u2019s Report on Social Media. Between them, the cases achieve breadth and depth of the topic. The research method has a firm focus on the practices of the learner, with close personal observation by the researcher, supplemented by video footage that is subject to later annotation using the ELAN software<\/a>, and related data such as college policies and details of the technology offered in the classroom and brought by the students. In Sara\u2019s case, ELAN annotation was used to explore the interruptions to her work by the Google algorithm.<\/p>\n \u201cUpon repeated viewing of the data clip, slowed down and expanded by the transcription of gesture and bodily movement, we observe that pauses occur between turns during web searching and the ensuing discussion about class work\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This deep and rich approach to exploring learner practices in digital environments reveals not only learners actions, but also shed some light on the broader set of actors such as the teacher, algorithms, acceptable use and other college policies, the assignment brief, the Moodle VLE, previous assignments written by the student, and relations between these actors.<\/p>\n The choice of learners for the case also managed to deliver breadth of learner practices to the research. Sara\u2019s brief required her to contextualise the assignment in her workplace, as well as use educational resources. Anne is a college teacher taking the Technology for Learning and Delivery course, who is producing a digital portfolio created on different technology platforms. Paolo, a Portuguese student who is studying English as a Speaker of Other Languages (ESOL) does a social media report. Ibrar Bhatt used an innovative method of facilitating learners\u2019 construction of Venn Diagrams to map their digital literacy practices across Home, Work and College contexts.<\/p>\n Each case is interspersed with vignettes of learner practice into a narrative that builds the emergent concepts: the \u2018nested dolls\u2019 effect of assembling assignments, curation as a digital literacy practice, and irruption (rather than disruption). Curation may be the pre-curation that happens in lesson plans, handouts and assignments and also the curation done by algorithms and by learner themselves. Irruption focuses on the actual displacing practices in digital contexts rather than the technology that might be involved in disruption. These concepts are explored in detail in Part III of the book.<\/p>\n It is in Part III of the book that the concepts that emerge from the research, though based on the localised contexts of the three cases, become available to inform other contexts. In reading them I saw parallels in Higher Education and informal education. Sara, Anne and Paolo\u2019s stories reveal how they work around the constraints imposed (often with good intent) by college policies, instructions on how to use technology, and sometimes by the technology itself. When we know more about learners\u2019 literacy skills in other contexts, we are in a better position to support their development (rather than suppression) of critical thinking. We can also learn how to write \u2018better\u2019 assignments.<\/p>\n Frances Bell<\/a> is an itinerant scholar <\/a><\/p>\n If you enjoyed reading this article we invite you to join the Associationfor Learning Technology (ALT) as an individual member, and to encourage your ownorganisation to join ALT as an organisational or sponsoring member<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ibrar Bhatt\u2019s book \u2018Assignments as Controversies: Digital Literacy and Writing in Classroom Practice\u2019 explores the practices of learners in college classrooms. This monograph is a development of Ibrar Bhatt\u2019s PhD research, published in the Routledge Research in Literacy Series. Prior to reading the book, I wondered about its audience and potential usefulness for classroom […]","protected":false},"author":480,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[791,863],"class_list":["post-6447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","tag-digital-literacies","tag-implications-of-technology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5893,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2016\/08\/introducing-twitter-into-the-classroom-a-multimodal-analysis\/","url_meta":{"origin":6447,"position":0},"title":"Introducing Twitter into the classroom: a multimodal analysis","author":"howardscott75","date":"24 August 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 In a recent practitioner- research study in a Computing department at University College Isle of Man, I explored the literacy practices of students studying for a Diploma in Information Technology (IT). This involved examining similarities between their everyday and college-assessed literacy practices and the texts they produced. I took\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Case studies"","block_context":{"text":"Case studies","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/case-studies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2016\/08\/Amys-Sap-web.png?fit=625%2C468&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2016\/08\/Amys-Sap-web.png?fit=625%2C468&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2016\/08\/Amys-Sap-web.png?fit=625%2C468&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6240,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2017\/03\/book-review-selwyn-neil-2017-education-and-technology-key-issues-and-debates\/","url_meta":{"origin":6447,"position":1},"title":"Book review – Selwyn, Neil 2017. Education and Technology: Key Issues and Debates","author":"rowellc","date":"27 March 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Selwyn, Neil 2017. Education and Technology: Key Issues and Debates, Second Edition. Bloomsbury Professor Neil Selwyn is one of the leading academics on technology and education, developing a reputation for high quality and critical work examining exclusion, literacy, policy and rigorous examination of students\u2019 experiences. Based on Selwyn\u2019s research reputation,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book reviews","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2017\/03\/Ed-and-Tech-2.jpg?fit=530%2C728&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2017\/03\/Ed-and-Tech-2.jpg?fit=530%2C728&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2017\/03\/Ed-and-Tech-2.jpg?fit=530%2C728&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3202,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2014\/03\/a-review-of-literacy-in-the-digital-university\/","url_meta":{"origin":6447,"position":2},"title":"A Review of “Literacy in the Digital University”","author":"ALT","date":"24 March 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Literacy in the Digital University: Critical Perspectives on Learning, Scholarship, and Technology Edited by Robin Goodfellow and Mary R. Lea Published by Routledge This is an edited collection authored by a range of academics predominantly from the UK. 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It really puts the evolution of the digital university in the context of the changes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book reviews","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/reviews\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2019\/04\/digiuni2.jpg?fit=694%2C420&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2019\/04\/digiuni2.jpg?fit=694%2C420&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2019\/04\/digiuni2.jpg?fit=694%2C420&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8296,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2019\/11\/digital-literacy-concepts-challenged-by-the-occupation\/","url_meta":{"origin":6447,"position":5},"title":"Digital Literacy: Concepts Challenged by the Occupation","author":"Gabi Witthaus","date":"10 November 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Digital literacy is a prerequisite to digital learning, and a vital aspect of the working lives of learning technologists. 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<\/a><\/p>\n