Spreading this meme
I should write more about instructional technology on my instructional technology blog. I am inspired by a post at Digital Medievalist which makes me want to spread my own soundbyte about instructional technology. Digital evangelist administrators and educators are confused. They are so blind to the creeping hegemony and borderline fascism of our digital society that they want to replicate it over and over again, promulgating dutiful digital consumers in their classrooms. (Maybe they don’t really want this, but the cultural implications of their policies clearly will lead to this).
The promise of the introduction of new technologies is that they will fracture the traditional power dynamics of the classroom. Again, not how people usually phrase this. But often, classroom computer use and a constructivist philosophy are intertwined together as if one must lead to the other. In fact, more often teachers use computers in classrooms as rewards, as drilling machines, etc, only realizing the behavioristic potential of this equipment. Which is another case of business as usual in education.
The fact is that if you want to radically transform education, computers are not the technology you are seeking. A revised and empowering pedagogy is.