Critical Theory, Cultural Analysis and the Ethics of Educational Technology as Social

Responsibility
Author(s): Andrew R. J. Yeaman, J. Randall Koetting and Randall G. Nichols
Source: Educational Technology , February 1994, Vol. 34, No. 2, Special Issue: The Ethical
Position of Educational Technolgy in Society (February 1994), pp. 5-13
Published by: Educational Technology Publications, Inc.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44428138

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 The primary purpose of these papers is to examine
Critical Theory, the ethics of educational technology. The essayists
reflect on ethics through contemporary critical
Cultural Analysis theorists. The emphasis is not on the ethical behavior of
individuals, which seems to be the domain of the
and the Ethics of existing professional codes of ethics, but on the ethical
position of educational technology in society. The
Educational critical theory approach is inherently concerned with
ethics of social responsibility and is rooted in the arts
and the humanities. This may be the first time that
Technology as present-day philosophy has been brought into a
discussion of educational technology and ethics in a
Social Responsibility mainstream publication. That the field is developing an
ethics of social responsibility could also be a sign of
maturation.

Andrew R. J. Yeaman A secondary purpose in these papers is to encourage

more interest in cultural analysis. It is exciting to be
J. Randall Koetting
Randall G. Nichols alive in this time of transition, when the twentieth
century disenchantment with epistemology, with
metaphysics, and with philosophy as the guiding light
of the sciences and the arts has resulted in confusion.
Logical empiricism claims objectivity but fails any test
The imperative for many cultural agents in the era of
of neutrality because science in action is a
concentration camps and nuclear weapons has been to
sociopolitical business with sociopolitical aims
think "otherwise," to transgress the coherent unity of a (Aronowitz, 1988; Rorty, 1979, 1989; Toulmin, 1990).
metaphysics that has proven inadequate to the Confined by these social discontinuities, the field of
problems we face. educational technology has been on a fact-finding
(Ulmer, 1986, p. 27) mission of scientific prediction with borrowed social
science theories and methods.
As in any other field, the researchers who intend to
This special issue of Educational Technology addresses understand social facts seldom know why those facts
the ethical position of educational technology in have been selected for study or, indeed, how their
society. The papers had their genesis in two research discipline chooses or creates social facts. The text of
and theory symposia on foundational aspects of the social facts is not mere discourse but becomes part of
field. The sessions took place at the AECT Conferences the action. Through projections or reconstructions,
in Washington, DC (1992) and New Orleans (1993), social facts are used to plan for the future and
where presenters applied critical theory to provide retrospectively account for the past (Suchman, 1988).
insight into educational technology. The sessions This view can be alarming to people schooled in the
continue this year at AECT's annual meeting in belief that science is the only reasonable, unbiased
Nashville.
model for knowing anything. However, many social
The approach of the authors is philosophical, problems have not been solved and cannot be solved
literary, and sociopolitical. They draw upon Jacques by the empirical, experimental, statistical, positivist
Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Jürgen Habermas, approach, and its critics should be valued.
among others, whose criticism is influential in causing Recent critiques of empiricism in the field suggest
many disciplines to look beyond what seems to work. that scientific approaches deserve less enthusiasm. The
The intention of these articles is to identify and confront reduction of instruction to procedures for the
hidden agendas by stimulating questions and further transmission of knowledge ignores the cultural aspects
dialog about the ethics of educational technology as of teaching and training (Kerr, 1989). Reeves (1993a,
social responsibility. 1993b) focuses on learner control research in
computer-based instruction as contrary to its own
theoretical and methodological demands. Not only are
there sample and treatment problems, as is typical of
Andrew R. J. Yeaman, Guest Editor of this special issue, is
most research in this area, but also there are such basic
Consultant, Yeaman & Associates, Denver, Colorado.
J. Randall Koetting is Associate Professor, University of conceptual inconsistencies in definition, operational-
Nevada-Reno. Randall G. Nichols is Associate Professor, ization, and measurement that quantitative research on
University of Cincinnati. learner control is best labeled as pseudoscience.
Yeaman turns to anthropology to examine how

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY/February 1994 5

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research beliefs and behaviors are formed by material In the 1960s the literary focus of critical theory in
pressures and concludes that, as an applied field, North America was augmented through importing the
educational technology in practice is artistic (1990). European emphasis on sociological analysis and the
These intellectual conflicts mean the field is alive and critique of ideology (Adams & Searle, 1986). It
there are issues worth thinking about. sometimes can be confusing thai the philosophers of
Awareness and self-direction are still possible. Manythe Frankfurt school of social inquiry, such as
disciplines are turning to critical theory to account for
Habermas, refer to their work alone as critical theory.
themselves, their actions, and their responsibilities inThis also distinguishes the Frankfurt school from the
the global context. Similarly, the authors in this special
orthodox Marxists who inspired their early theorizing.
issue hope to investigate their topics in ways that avoid In no instance is there a unified critical theory, and
critical theories, as a plural descriptor, would be a
embedding the sociopolitical priorities of the present as
more Whig history. more specific label. Gibson (1986) observes that
The authors address the field's ethical aspects by
despite their own disagreements, critical theorists of the
Frankfurt school tend to concur that:
applying critical theory and cultural analysis to provide
insight. They follow this essay's epigraph (Ulmer, 1986, • Reality is socially constructed.
p. 27) in seeking an alternative to the scientific, • The positivistic labeling of people is not natural.
technological, engineering heritage of positivism. They • Scientific explanations of- human behavior lack
are not playing the game of science, and reading their objectivity.
efforts should feel different from reading scientific The same qualities are usually found in the wider base
writing. Decoding criticism's meanings and processes is of literary and philosophical critical theory and at
distinct, but an earlier critique of videowalls as
present are intellectual currency in many areas of
functionalism (Hlynka, 1990) drew functionalist, how-
inquiry.
do-we-do-it inquiries. Therefore, the authors - Sociology is typical of disciplines being reshaped by
including those who have published in the pages of critical theory in its methodological and theoretical
Educational Technology previously - also seek toconcerns. Although "contributing to the enhanced
demonstrate criticism as a way of reading the culture ofperformativity of the social system remains a prominent
educational technology. form of justification for the practice of sociology" the
The legitimacy of engaging in criticism extends
critical traditions of sociology have been reinforced in
beyond educational technology and educational their analyses of modern social technologies (Smart,
1993, p. 72). This list of implications is condensed from
theorizing and research. The paths variously described
by Derrida, Foucault, and Habermas, among others,
Agger's review article (1 991 , pp. 1 1 9-1 25):
strongly influence not only philosophy and literature 1 . Critical theory forces sociological empiricism to
but also current knowledge in many disciplines, such interrogate its own taken-for-granted exemption
as anthropology (Clifford & Marcus, 1986), sociology from the sul Tying interests of perspective,
(Smart, 1992, 1993), social psychology (Parker & passion, polemic, and politics.
Shotter, 1990), and business administration (Calas & 2. Critical theory contributes to the development
Smircich, 1991; Cooper, 1989; Kilduff, 1993). Similar of a postpositivist philosophy of science.
developments are occurring in the study and practice of 3. Poststructural ism completes the Frankfurt
technology in education. critique of science by showing that we can read
all sorts of nondiscursive texts as rhetoric-
What Is Critical Theory? arguments for a certain state of social being.
Critical theory dates back to Socrates upholding the 4. Poststructuralism reveals how language itself
reality of ideas or forms over the reality of appearances helps constitute reality, thus offering new ways
(Adams, 1971). Over the millennia this debate on to read and write science.
interpretation, representation, and media became the 5. Postmodernism rejects the view that science
intellectual foundation of philosophy, theology, literary can be spoken in a singular universal voice.
criticism, linguistics, psychology, communications, and 6. Critical theory suggests new ways of theorizing
education. An example of an area of critical theory the role of the state and culture in advanced
previously established as a contributor to understanding capitalism.
communication through educational technology is 7. Foucault's postmodernism offers valuable
Roman Jakobson's Prague school of linguistics; see insights to students of social control.
Richards (1 974). Critical theory should not be conflated 8. Derrida's poststructuralism and Baudri I lard's
with critical thinking, the recent pedagogical postmodernism offer valuable contributions to
movement advocating teacher-centered questioning for the sociological study of discourses, potentially
the development of thinking skills. Critical theorizing enriching a wide range of sociological subfields
results in a formal product known by a familiar name: including the sociology of mass communica-
criticism. tions and media, the sociology of knowledge,

6 EDUCATIONAL TECH NOLOG Y/February 1 994

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 and the sociology of science. given to this sort of spontaneous organization. The
9. In particular, a postmodern and poststructural scholarly network of an invisible college brings prestige
feminism suggests concrete empirical studies of to a field and it is a sign of the field's intellectual
the ways in which discourses like film are adulthood. Invisible college is a label that particularly
structured by gendered themes. applies to a group such as the one presenting these
10. The new "social movements" theory of papers, that discusses hitherto undetected anomalies in
Habermas offers theoretical insights to scholars their field.
of social movements who otherwise lack a This specific invisible college is in a period of
larger theoretical perspective that explains
exponential growth with new activities spinning out as
where these movements come from and what more people recognize that the field is not neutral but
sort of structural impact they might have. centered around cultural reproduction. In particular,
questions of ethical conscience come from
Contemporary texts produced by critical theorizing
are viewed not as derivative, second-hand literaturedisillusionment
but with the unfulfilled promises of
as original, primary works actively confronting technology
real and from unintended side-effects. They also
come from detecting the negative consequences of
problems (Eagleton, 1983; Hartman, 1981). Current
scholarship in education takes this point of view,
industrial, corporate, and military processes as social
technologies. (For extended discussions of that
especially Critical Theory and Education (Gibson,
connection, see Edwards (1988, 1990), Hacker (1990),
1 986), Media Knowledge: Readings in Popular Culture,
Pedagogy, and Critical Citizenship (Schwoch, White, &
Robins & Webster (1989), Smart (1992), and Wajcman
Reilly, 1992), Postmodern Education: Politics, Culture,
(1991) among the current commentators from outside
and Social Criticism (Aronowitz & Giroux, 1991), of instruction and training.) Further, it is becoming
Postmodernism, Feminism, and Cultural Politics increasingly understood that all technologies, objects,
(Giroux, 1991a), Power and Criticism: Poststructural
programs, and metaphors carry bias as a lagniappe.
Investigations in Education (Cherryholmes, 1988), Rather than being isolated as a subset of systems
Theory in the Classroom (Nelson, 1986), and What thinking, the field is becoming related to many other
Schools Can Do: Critical Pedagogy and Practice disciplines which are receptive to critical theory in the
(Weiler & Mitchell, 1992). wide sense. These disciplines study such areas as:
semiotics; technology in society; reader response
theory; social and cultural theories from sociology,
An Invisible College anthropology, and history; popular culture; interpretive
and Its Intellectual Genealogy communities; feminism; and ethnicity. The relevance
The authors in this issue of Educational Technology
and vitality of these interdisciplinary contributions
have established what information scientists call an
disturbs the equilibrium of reductionists. It is especially
invisible college (Crane, 1972). Each person feels
noticeable that graduate students are enriching
concern about the ethics of the field and its social
educational technology programs by infusing
responsibilities. This does not mean that the whole of
knowledge from their undergraduate preparation in
the invisible college is represented in these articles
areas- affected by critical theory.
see the illustrative figure. Nor does it mean that
The invisible college functions by encouraging the
Suzanne Damarin equals Jane Anderson equals Denis
discussion of problems in the field, building positions
Hlynka and so on. It means this group has an informal
and a shared agenda, critiquing understandings, and
scholarly network for intellectual exchange, generating solidarity. The pioneering activities are in
collaboration, support, and sponsorship. It meansexploring
this new territory, naming things, and mapping
group collectively functions by continuing with out the land. A common focus is the direct application
humanistic criticism in the field. That longstanding
of critical theory to communication and technology.
tradition, from James D. Finn and Charles Hoban, is is general acknowledgement that:
There
identified by Nichols in the chapter Towards• Scientific
a solutions seem unsuitable for solving
Conscience in Paradigms Regained (1991). Likemany world dilemmas.
paradigm shifters, the invisible college not only
• Institutions can be extremely dehumanizing.
changes how some of its peers think but also has• a
Knowledge and instructional messages always
major effect on the new generation who are already have a cultural slant.
building on its work. These themes are documented by recently published
Something dynamic is happening in any field when books: The Cultural Dimensions of Educational
established researchers and theorists choose to work Computing: Understanding the Non-Neutrality of
together on projects again and again so that a web of Technology (Bowers, 1988), The Ideology of Images in
cross connections builds up, despite separation by Educational Media: Hidden Curriculums in the
thousands of miles. For about the last quarter of a Classroom (Ellsworth & Whatley, 1991) and Paradigms
century, an invisible college is the name that has been Regained: The Uses of Illuminative, Semiotic, and Post-

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY/February 1994 7

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 An Invisible College
and Its Intellectual Genealogy

/ '
Ervin
T. H.

> - Jim Finn Edgar Dale '

Charles Hoban Gerald Torkelson n.

y' George Gerbner

/ Drawing connecting lines between people can be informative. Also,
/ it is probable that some names have been inadvertently omitted.
/ Write them in where you think they belong. The accompanying '
/ article gives a context for this chart. '

/
/ ✓ I
i
Denis
i Hlynka
N |
'
'
f Al Januszewski I Randy Nichols I '
/ Ann DeVaney ' Bob Muffoletto ' John Belland ^
¡ Elizabeth Ellsworth Randy Koetting Rhonda Robinson |
% Bill Taylor | Jane Anderson | Steve Kerr J
' Jane Johnsen | Suzanne Damarin | RK. Jamison /
' I Andrew Yeaman I , /

' I L Andrew
' Ted Nunan C.A. Bowers Cle
Michael Apple Rex Gibson Her
' Stanley Aronowitz Henry Gir
'. Patti Lather Paulo Freire y'
s. Elliot Eisner Ted Aoki

Ferdinand de Saussure Umberto Eco Martin Heidegger Ludwig Wittgenstein

Edmund Husserl Theodor Adomo Max Horkheimer Walter Benjamin
Jürgen Habermas Jean-Paul Sartre Roland Barthes Michel Foucault
Gilles Deleuze Félix Guattari Jean Baudrillard Jean-François Lyotard

8 EDUCATIONAL TECH NOLOG Y/February 1994

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modem Criticism as Modes of Inquiry in Educational strongly professional appeal over doing what is simply
Technology (H lynka & Belland, 1991). expedient.
The theme has also been taken up in periodical The circle in the figure contains an intellectual
publications. A special issue of Research & Theory : genealogy of the invisible college. At the top are some
AECT-RTD Newsletter gathers together reflective and influential figures who in previous decades wrote
critical points of view (Koetting, 1989). A double issue essays about theory in educational technology,
of the Journal of Thought focuses on the social and emphasized communication, and drew upon the
cultural aspects of educational media (Robinson, 1990). humanities and humanistic ways of knowing. Below
The ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Resources the oval is a sampling of the contemporary education
sponsored an ERIC Digest on Postmodern Educational theorists in curriculum and critical pedagogy who are
Technology (H lynka & Yeaman, 1992). often cited in publications from the invisible college.
The essayists contributing here have published many The frame with rounded corners represents
other related papers and have chapters appearing in influences from outside of education. It is not intended
state of the art volumes such as Computers in as a replication of Boorstin's The Discoverers (1983)
but as a context for current scholarship directed at
Education : Social ' Political , and Historical Perspectives
(Muffoletto & Knupfer, 1993), The Handbook of social examination. At the bottom is a lengthy list of
Research on Educational Communications and Tech- twentieth century critical theorists whose writing is
nology (Jonassen, forthcoming), The Significance of thedrawn upon by the invisible college. The Frankfurt
Channel One Experiment (DeVaney, forthcoming), and school of social inquiry is conspicuous and so are the
Visual Literacy : A Spectrum of Visual Learning (Moore poststructural and postmodern authors known as the
& Dwyer, 1 994). Tel Quel group from their association with that French
journal. Immediately above the education circle are
There are no formal meetings of the invisiblę
college, but the mutual interests extend beyond the four prominent Victorians situated in the ceremonial
annual foundations symposium at AECT conferences. positions that Adam and Eve hold in family
Members of the invisible college gather as a break out
genealogies. They are industrial age icons standing for
group at the retreats held by the Professors modern of reason and science. At the top of the frame are
Instructional Design and Technology (PIDT). They classic sociologists: Among the invisible college their
sometimes submit joint proposals and speak on the ideas are mentioned more often in casual conversations
same platform at the conferences of the American
than in writing. This concern with social theory
provides a background for the invisible college's
Educational Research Association (AERA). They give
conscious looking at educational technology in society.
research presentations at the conferences held by the
International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA), atThe chart of An Invisible College and Its Intellectual
science and technology studies conferences (STS), and Genealogy is necessarily an approximation that
at the Bergamo conferences on curriculum theory and describes what but by itself cannot describe why. No
classroom practice under the patronage of the Journal bibliometric studies were conducted. Reference lists
of Curriculum Theorizing (J CT). were not matched by computer to either detect the
A snapshot of the invisible college is given in the clustering of articles or create co-citation matrices. The
illustrative figure. The contributors to this special issuefamiliar procedure of rational analysis was employed to
of Educational Technology are framed in the page- draw this chart, as in inventing instructional processes
shaped rectangle in the center. In the oval around them that fit learning outcomes (Mager, 1962/1984) or
are more key communicators and collaborators. All of defining the field as the cognitive refinement of
automated delivery systems (Ross, Sullivan, &
them have the highest academic degrees from
respected first-rank universities, hold responsible Tennyson, 1992).
positions, and maintain scholarly reputations. Like theLike an informal photograph, the chart gives some
Bourbaki group in mathematics (Crane, 1972, p. 36), indication of relationships but is open to interpretation.
members are dispersed, with two universities as main Readers can interact with the chart by making
amendments to the nearly 60 names. It can be
centers of diffusion: Ohio State University and the
improved by inserting names, erasing names, or
University of Wisconsin. Communications among this
working community take place not only through moving names around. Another instructive
traditional media (informal discussions at conferences;
modification is the addition of connecting lines to show
long-distance telephone calls; drafts and reprints of relationships and influences. Who collaborated with
papers; and invitations, memos, and letters to the whom? Who is cited? Who was whose student? Identify
participants of group endeavors) but also through the someone who organized a project and then find the
medium of electronic mail (Lincoln, 1992). As a frozen
contributors. Connecting lines will overlap and create
moment, the lists of names are realistic but always webs because organizers generally have contributed to
changing due to expansion: Critical theorizing is others' projects.
doable, results in making justified decisions, and has a Imperfection is admitted as space limitations and the

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY/February 1994 9

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need for graphic simplicity caused some subjects and values and interests" (Leitch, 1988, p. 51). For example,
people to be left out of this portrait of influences on Foucault declares Anti-Oedipus to be a book of ethics:
instruction, technology, and society. Why are there no "The major enemy, the strategic adversary is
psychologists? In comparison with the more familiar, fascism...the fascism in us all, in our heads and in our
positivistic accounts of educational communications everyday behavior, the fascism that causes us to love
and technology, there are no figures like Jean Piaget or power, to desire the very thing that dominates and
B. F. Skinner. Should Sigmund Freud be included as the exploits us" (1983, p. xiii).
rationalist counterpart of Charles Darwin, the Instruction and training require a similar ethical
empiricist? Where are the African-American postmod- commitment so that basic human rights can flourish. It
ernists: Cornel West and bell hooks? is not a matter of solitary choice but "a social discourse
Where are the feminists outside of education? Where grounded in struggles that refuse to accept needless
are Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray, or Julia Kristeva? human suffering and exploitation" (Ciroux, 1991b,
However, members of the invisible college read and p. 48). Developing this ethical conscience in
cite these books: Cynthia Cockburn's Machinery of educational technology is the focus of these pages.
Dominance: Women, Men and Technical Know-How It is a relatively different understanding of educa-
(1988), Sally Hacker's Pleasure, Power, and tional technology and its relations with society, culture,
Technology: Some Tales of Gender, Engineering, and politics, gender, and science and technology in general
the Cooperative Workplace (1 989), Donna Haraway's that is discussed here. So that educators may increase
Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of their intellectual and pedagogical repertoires for
Nature (1991), Teresa De Lauretis' Technologies of understanding and acting upon educational
Gender (1987), and Judy Wajcman's Feminism technology, it is necessary this critical approach be
Confronts Technology (1991), as well as referencing revealed. Existing knowledge of educational technology
lectures like Ursula Franklin's Community and is predominantly based i.n positivistic, rational, and
Technology (1990) and essays like Judith Halberstam's technical ways of knowing, such as scientific
Automating Gender (1 991 ). empiricism and experimental research. The kinds of
Why should comparatively atheoretical commen- understanding presented in this issue of Educational
tators on technology be ignored? The books by Noble Technology do not have that restriction. These articles
(1991), Postman (1992), and Winner (1986) tend to are founded on philosophical, social, gendered,
lack a theory orientation but assemble scenes and build semiotic, and literary ways of knowing.
interpretations which notably contribute to This perspective gains in value as technological
understanding. Similarly, Mander's value is in making changes make instruction and training more
perceptive recommendations (1991, pp. 49-50): problematic each year. Educational technology
1. Since most of what we are told about new inherently results in some instructors being deskilled
technology comes from its proponents, be and losing their professional responsibilities.
deeply skeptical of all claims. Information technology skews knowledge towards
2. Assume all technology "guilty until proven being instrumental, privatized, and commercialized.
innocent." Educational computing tends to sort students and
3. Eschew the idea that technology is neutral or trainees into successful and unsuccessful learners. As in
"value free." Every technology has inherent and the past three decades, the greatest application of
identifiable social, political, and environmental computers in education is still in standardized testing.
consequences. New ćommunication technology products increase the
The observations of cognitive scientists also help shapenumber of variables in the instructional horizon and
the critical vision: "Techriology has decided that
make teaching and training more complex. In this
machines have certain needs and that humans are regard, the nontechnical approach of humanistic
required to fulfill them. ...We tailor our jobs to meet the criticism becomes even more important for obtaining
needs of machines." (Norman, 1993, p. 223) understanding of technology and learning.
Consider a selection of everyday statements on
The Humanistic Approach to Developing educational technology made by beginning teachers.
an Ethical Conscience As naïve beliefs they are what is taken for granted
Ethics directed at individuals usually mean not doingabout education and the computerization of society.
something, but social ethics require action. Instead of aThese data do not reflect the textbook, the curriculum,
criticism that diminishes artistic expression as fictitious, or in class presentations, but are drawn from six final
ephemeral, and neutral, present-day criticism acts by exams in an educational technology class of 21 college
perpetuating the ancient, ethical tradition of makingstudents:
order out of cultural crisis (Siebers, 1986). 1 . Since our society has placed such great value on
Contemporary criticism is involved with the ethics the of technology of computers, I feel that it is
necessary for my students to begin using them as
"political, social, aesthetic, economic, and theological

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 soon as they can. analyzing what beliefs underlie educational
2. It is imperative for students to become fluent in technology, what these beliefs mean, why these beliefs
using both kinds of computers [IBM and are chosen, and what might these choices mean when
Macintosh], as such competence will be both they are operational ized as behaviors. The focus is not
useful and crucial in their adult lives. so much on prediction as it is on understanding. There
3. Academically they will improve because of the is also an intent to build instructional actions that are
enormous amount of educational software that more meaningful on that understanding.
the school district has agreed to buy.
4. In this day and age when computers are such a
big part of our society, I feel the students need to How Do These Papers Examine
learn how to use a computer. the Ethics of Educational Technology?
5. The eight computers, composed of seven In their papers the authors briefly explain the
workstations and one file server, and associatedtheoretical bases from which their work emanates.
hardware requested will form the backbone ofThese bases are the humanistic, nonpositivistic theories
an integrated educational network. Through theof criticism. They include overlapping ideas from the
use of the system, the students will learn to
critical theory of the Frankfurt school, feminist theory,
become proficient computer users, which is and postmodern and poststructural theory:
almost paramount in today's society. • Critical theory examines unequal social relations
6. By using the computer to learn, learning will beand structures in order to bring about greater freedom
fun and students will be successful. and equality for all people. Its proponents claim that
These attitudes towards the behavior of teaching withexcessive rationality is applied to things once taken-for-
and about computers have far-reaching consequences. granted. The result is the replacement of personal
They are rigid in upholding the values of technology aspects in our lives with the values of institutions such
and believing in procedures. They are unthinkingly as government.
conformist and symptomatic of computer addiction and • Feminist theory often aims to bring those in the
computerphilia as social conditions. They mistake themargins of society to the center. Feminist theorists give
computerization of society through computers invoice to people who are marginalized in terms of
schools as educational technology. However, the curriculum, class, age, student status, and ability.
remainder of the class did better at writing out practical • Postmodern theory also critiques various social
positions that justified the use of educational
relations but often does so less with an eye to specific
technology to directly support instruction. social reform. Sometimes postmodernists expose the
problems of modern life but hesitate at being so
Compare the flawed logic of those six fallacious
understandings with this demanding list of questions: presumptuous as to offer a new plan which they may
• What is the philosophy of educational tech-see as a new problem.
nology? These theories allow for critiques of the issues that
• Can the field adopt nonlinear or improvisational affect our lives: politics, economics, science-
design strategies and processes? technology, the ecology, and schooling:
• How can anyone be assured of a fair and equal • Critical theory helps us see that mass media have
education in the midst of educational technology removed many people from their responsibility to
systems that tend to favor dominant cultures? participate in democracy.
• Is "educational technology" an oxymoron? • Feminist pedagogy helps us to see how various
Posing such questions challenges readers to examine technologies can encourage or discourage the process
the ethics of the field, but the critical positions taken in of giving centered voice to marginalized people.
these Educational Technology special issue papers are • Postmodern theory helps us to see that the
not obvious. They emphasize neither the hazards of objective truths that science and technology sought to
social control from propaganda messages nor the mind- discover are highly relative and political.
numbing effects of mass media mediocrity. While there In terms of schooling, learning, and technology, the
are some truths to those viewpoints, the analyses papers cover these basic issues:
presented here are far more subtle than allegations of • Critical theorists speak to the ways that tech-
danger or triviality. The third position accepts that nology removes people from the communicative
whether or not educational technology is persuasive, it process that best characterizes learning and democracy.
is always influential and pervasive. From this view • Feminists using the perspective of pedagogy show
educational technology is important because it is how technology can help and hinder the acquisition of
thought to be important and because education is authentic voices by marginalized others.
everywhere. The invisible college critics ask why things • Postmoderns show how theories about cognition,
are this way and what is below the surface meaning. language, communication, and instructional design
The commonality between these papers is in may dominate classes of people.

EDUCATIONAL TECH NOLOG Y/February 1 994 11

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 Each author writing here believes in a politics of Calás, M. B., & Smircich, L. (1991). Voicing seduction to
participatory democracy and thereby seeks not to silence leadership. Organization Studies, /2,567-602.
dictate facts as ultimate truth, nor to argue and win, but Cherryholmes, C. H. (1988). Power and criticism:
to discuss. The intent is to draw attention to ethical Poststructural investigations in education. New York:
Teachers College Press.
issues and begin dialogs centered on difference and
Clifford, J., & Marcus, G. E. (Eds.). (1986). Writing culture :
otherness. The positions taken may be startling in that
The poetics and politics of ethnography. Berkeley, CA:
they criticize familiar, but seldom questioned, up-with- University of California Press.
technology assumptions such as: Cockburn, C. (1988). Machinery of dominance: Women,
• The need for automated educational delivery men, and technical know-how. Boston, MA: Northeastern
systems is undeniable. University Press.
• Anything worth doing is done better on a Cooper, R. (1989. Modernism, post modernism and
computer. organizational analysis 3: The contribution of Jacques
• Schools and businesses need to buy more Derrida. Organization Studies, 10, 479-502.
computers and buy the latest hardware and the newest Crane, D. (1972). Invisible colleges: Diffusion of knowledge
in scientific communities. Chicago: University of Chicago
software improvements to keep up to date.
Press.
• People who think that computers are awkward,
De Lauretis, T. (1987). Technologies of gender: Essays on
dominating, imperfect, and sometimes less than useful
theory, film, and fiction. Bloomington, IN: Indiana
need to be educated out of their computerphobia. University Press.
• Restructuring with TECHNOLOGY and building DeVaney, A. (Ed.). (forthcoming). The significance of the
INFORMATION HIGHWAYS will end the perpetual Channel One experiment. Albany, NY: State University of
education crisis. New York Press.
• It is patriotic to promote technological Eagleton, T. (1983). Literary theory: An introduction.
dependency so that our countries do not lag behind in Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
the competitive global marketplace. Edwards, P. N. (1988). The closed world: Systems discourse,
• If we do not use more technology in education as military strategy and post WWII American historical
consciousness. Al and Society, 2, 245-255.
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Edwards, P. N. (1990). The army and the microworld:
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Computers and the politics of gender identity. Signs:
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definitely nothing wrong with liking and advocating Ellsworth, E., & Whatley, M. H. (Eds.). (1991). The ideology of
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