ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a narrative reflection on the professional, intellectual and personal influence of Ivor Goodson’s work. It plots areas of mutual interest, similarities in personal trajectories and reactions to predominant social scripts. The chapter outlines how Ivor’s work influenced my own thinking and practice, specifically in relation to his work on the introduction of classroom computers and the associated symbolic action, power and ideology underpinning the socially constructed nature of educational technology. This work informed the focus of my own PhD and critical perspective on educational technology, which also influenced my practice in subsequent professional roles. I also highlight the work undertaken directly with Ivor more recently, including the development of the concept of refraction, a conceptual tool to support complex, social scientific investigations and methodological and theoretical exploration. As this work has occurred against a backdrop of marketisation and privatisation in UK Higher Education, Ivor has demonstrated how new possibilities may be more likely through congenial horizontal networks. Ivor’s work has had a direct influence on my own work and that of numerous others, with his practice revealing numerous attributes one might associate with a true public intellectual, the most of important of all being intellectual generosity.
