Collateral Pedagogies: Exploring the Performative Powers of Workload Allocation Models

Abstract

In Science & Technology Studies and beyond, administrative instruments are recognized for their capacity to impact organizations and institutions. Whether intended or not, administrative instruments rework the core activities that organizations or institutions are put into the world to conduct. In this article, we study an important type of administrative instrument in universities, namely workload allocation models (WAMs), and how it impacts a core activity of universities, namely teaching. In order to explore this question, we draw on the concept of performative effects from Science & Technology Studies (STS). We conceptualize these effects as “collateral pedagogies”, drawing inspiration from the Science and Technology Studies approach to performativity and building on John Law’s concept of “collateral realities”. We argue that, while some performative effects of administrative instruments such as workload allocation models are visible because they constitute matters of concern in the contexts where they are introduced, such instruments may also produce more subtle effects. These effects may not be immediately apparent yet impact fundamental aspects of organizational practices. For example, most WAM’s in our study enacted university teaching as a standardized/able enterprise disconnected from its context and content by way of standardized formats and quantities, instead of an open process that takes the students, the particularities of the course, or teachers’ professional backgrounds and experience into consideration. Thus, it is important to examine WAMs closely.