ACTIVITY

Pick a digital technology which has been used in your previous educational
experience and ask of it the following questions:
(1) what did the technology do that was new or that revived / perpetuated
something old
(2) what were the unintended or secondary consequences
(3) what were the gains and what were the losses
(4) what were the associated values and agendas
(5) in whose interests did the technology work; who benefitted and in what ways
(6) what was the problem to which the technology was a solution
(7) how responsive to a digital fix was the problem likely to be
 WHY ARE THERE DIFFERENT WAYS OF
IDENTIFYING THE KEY ISSUES IN E&T?
WHAT IS EDUCATION?
Is it a component of democracy?
Is it induction into the workforce?
Is it a market?
Is it a mechanism for reproducing knowledge and society?
Is it a storehouse of information?
Is it revolutionary?
WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY?
Is it a black-box that leads to specific outcomes?
Is it a causal force?
Is it a cultural artefact?
Is it a social activity, open to negotiation, interpretation, struggle?
Is it a component of a social arrangement; or a social system?
Three paradigms (among many others): 1. Digital literacy
2. Ed Tech
3. Digital natives and immigrants
OTHERS NOT INCLUDED HERE
SCOT: Social Shaping of Technology
ANT: Actor-Network Theory
Science and technology studies
Anthropology of techniques
Phenomenology and the philosophy of technology
And many more.