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This chapter is the actualization of an experimentation of two second language (L2) teacher educators (the authors) with(in) Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) ontology and the associated concepts of agencement, desire, rhizomes, becoming, and affect to contribute to the everchanging knowledge base associated with the work and experiences of teacher educators at a time when such contributions are urgently needed. More precisely, this chapter sought to illustrate what could happen when, as teacher educators and researchers, we become “intimate” with the various elements of a research–teaching–learning–writing agencement. To do so, the chapter presents research based on material collected as part of a study on a mentoring experience between the authors. The second author was preparing to teach an online graduate course in L2 education to in-service teachers for the first time, while the first author had more experience with online teaching. Through the rhizoanalysis of three vignettes, the authors engaged with(in) their experiences by considering how various elements of the research–teaching–learning–writing agencement – particularly the most intensively affective ones – impacted and were impacted by other elements. With(in) this process, desire emerged as a praxis and a force capable of generating new knowledge in part by encouraging teachers and teacher educators (1) to experiment with learning, teaching, and conducting research with(in) the productive energy of desire, and (2) to disrupt affective powers as well as the role played by the body in such a process.

Teachers develop and use a special kind of knowledge. This knowledge is neither theoretical, in the sense of theories of learning, teaching, and curriculum, nor merely practical, in the sense of knowing children. If either of these were the essential ingredient of what teachers know, then it would be easy to see that others have a better knowledge of both; academics with better knowledge of the theoretical and parents and others with better knowledge of the practical. A teacher’s special knowledge is composed of both kinds of knowledge, blended by the personal background and characteristics of the teacher, and expressed by her in particular situations. The idea of “image” is one form of personal practical knowledge, the name given to this special practical knowledge of teachers (Clandinin, 1985; Connelly & Dienes, 1982). In this chapter I show how one teacher’s image of the “classroom as home” embodies her personal and professional experience and how, in turn, the image is expressed in her classroom practices and in her practices in her personal life. Using a variety of classroom episodes gathered over two years with two teachers, I offer a theoretical outline of the experiential dimensions of an image and, in so doing, present image as a knowledge term which resides at the nexus of the theoretical, the practical, the objective, and the subjective.

A change in leadership can often be stressful for an organization. Miriam, the Founding Executive Director of a supporting foundation for a rural hospital, was primarily a servant leader, providing volunteers and staff with the tools needed for successful fundraising. As the initial Executive Director for this small nonprofit organization, she established an organizational culture that fit the needs of the community; volunteers became accustomed to that culture and the organization flourished. Upon Miriam’s retirement, her replacement brought a very different type of leadership rooted in hierarchical structures and authoritarianism. Accustomed to a more supportive organizational culture, many volunteers flatly refused to work with the new executive director. He exacerbated the problem by refusing to acknowledge any missteps he might have taken and was not receptive to any ideas not his own. He was not supportive of staff or even the organization’s own board members. The new executive director was accustomed to being in control and misunderstood managing the needs of multiple stakeholders. He moved too quickly to consolidate his own power without consideration of the organization’s needs. He tried to instill a “heroic” leadership style in a culture of shared leadership. The credibility of the organization suffered as a result, not only among volunteers and hospital staff, but, as they talked within the community, publically as well.

This chapter reflects on the outcomes of the Digital Student Selves project at a small, specialist arts institution in the United Kingdom. The project aimed to promote increased student understanding of the research process as well as increased reflexivity by engaging students in an inquiry-based approach to unpacking experiences and perspectives of the role of technology in learning. Specifically, students were asked to consider the contribution of programme-specific learning technologies and social media to their creative identity and lifelong professionalism.

Discussion within this chapter outlines strategies that students employed in adopting blended approaches to learning and also presents key aspects of students’ negotiation of digital selfhood. The discussion therefore has relevance in considering current practices in support of digital confidence and how these might be refined or augmented. In this way, the student contributors become co-creators in the learning environment, influencing recommendations for institutional change and best practice.