Postdigital Dissensus: On the Complexity of Debating Technology in Higher Education Futures

Abstract

The adoption of new technologies often concerns a range of people across and around higher education (HE) institutions, spurring the need for various, possibly dissenting voices to be heard. This paper explores the complexity of this issue through the concept of postdigital dissensus. I examine how sociotechnical stances and discourses regarding digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) in HE relate to dissensus and lack of sociotechnical closure. I argue that technology perceptions in HE are diversified beyond easily resolvable differences such as educators’ competences or presumptions. Rather, a more complex and nuanced perspective is needed to recognise and work with postdigital dissensus. Drawing on constructivist and critical theories of technology and recent literature on issues in technology adoption in HE, I examine what may constitute ‘points of dissensus’ regarding digitalisation of HE. The complexity of postdigital dissensus is illustrated through the concepts of asymmetries in knowledge, domains and scales, roles and standpoints, expectations and metanarratives. I argue the need to construct fuller theories of the nature and dynamics of postdigital dissensus, as well as to utilise explicitly future-oriented, imaginative and collective working methods to engage in multi-voice discussions around digitalisation.