Week 2 - Tech Determinism and SCOT
- The maintenance of the egalitarian nature of the Internet (e.g. Net Neutrality) is of great concern to me personally and politically. Often conflicting socio-economic forces interacting with technological structures in the political arena make the ongoing structure of the Internet still very much in play. As Pinch and Bijker noted, the meaning of the artifact (the Internet, in this case), is different for different groups. And “stabilization” has not yet occurred. I think it is especially crucial the generation of “digital natives” coming of age is educated about the need to advocate, on a public policy level, for a reality that many take for granted.
- While the focus of many educational technology leaders in k –12 education is in students developing “21st century skills,” (e.g.. critical thinking, problem solving) I don’t find that this thinking has really grabbed hold on the ground of many k-12 schools. In the context of this week’s readings, this struck me as an example of the ongoing interplay of societal forces and the development of technological tools. For example, while many widely available software programs (e.g. Microsoft office applications), as well as Web 2.0 tools lend themselves to 21st century learning, and are thus purportedly supported by the business community looking for an appropriately educated workforce, the often conflicting force of increasingly “accountable” school districts is leading to schools often grasping onto technology use in almost the opposite way. That is, they are often using it to standardize and centralize student achievement tasks and data. This is especially true in poorer communities where NCLB accountability poses the greatest challenges. I guess my question is whether the development of educational technology within the socio-economic / political forces as played out in K-12 schools is actually increasing the intellectual divide among students, and teachers, for that matter.
- At the risk of revealing my age, I am concerned about the unintended consequence of the ubiquity of mobile communication devices, especially among young people. I wonder about the role of constant electronic communication (e.g text messaging) on brain development, e.g. the ability to concentrate and be fully in the physical moment.
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