Open lecture as part of a mentoring visit by Prof. Peter Kahn, University of Manchester

27 05 2025

Please join us for an open lecture by Prof. Peter Kahn, University of Manchester entitled “Educating for collective agency in a digitally-mediated society”, prepared as part of the mentoring visit under Action I.1.1/IV.1.1 “Mentoring Programme”.

The world is facing ongoing problems that call out for cooperative solutions, including challenges that pertain to climate change and social inequality. At the same time, though, the development of digital systems, from AI-driven applications to social media platforms both offer scope for new forms of collective action and compromise the extent to which it is possible for people to draw together in response to these challenges. This presentation considers ways in which universities can cultivate students’ capacity for collective agency in digitally-mediated societies. Grounded in a critical realist paradigm, collective agency is framed by Margaret Archer as the ability to develop shared concerns and carry out actions that challenge the status quo. The presentation will explore ways in which use of a range of digital technologies affect the development of capacity for collective agency on the part of students. Conditions affecting capacity for collective agency that will be addressed include architectures of attention, reflexive horizons, relational goods and expanding passivity. As a result, it is argued that learning design within higher education should be structurally informed in light of the affordances of digital technology, and the social and cultural structures that connect with those affordances.

Peter Kahn is Professor of Digital Education in the Manchester Institute of Education, School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester, UK. His responsibilities include leadership for developments within e-learning in this School. His research is focused on applying critical realist perspectives to the study of higher education, addressing within this overall field such areas as digital technologies, generative artificial intelligence, collaboration and sustainability. His publications include those in journals such as Educational Technology, Research and Development, Studies in Higher Education, Higher Education Research and Development. He is Editor of the journal Teaching in Higher Education, which brings critical perspectives to bear on pedagogy, curriculum, assessment and related topics within universities. Professor Kahn was previously Director of the Centre for Higher Education Studies at the University of Liverpool, where he led a large-scale online professional doctorate in higher education studies.

The lecture will take place in DELab, on Friday, 30 May 2025 at 15:00, in University of Warsaw Library ul. Dobra 56/66.