Why Teaching About Technology Is More Important Than Teaching With It

by Jacob Pleasants

Think about the last time you heard the words “technology” and “school” used in conversation (if needed, replace “school” with “classroom,” “teaching,” or “education”). What was that conversation about? Odds are, it had something to do with how teachers are using digital technologies (laptops, phones, learning management systems, social media platforms) in their classrooms. Perhaps the teachers are utilizing those technologies well, or maybe the technologies have been glitchy and frustrating, or maybe they aren’t being utilized enough. Or maybe we notice how one school has much nicer (i.e., more expensive) technologies than another. All of this is to say that the usual conversation about technology and schools is about the presence, absence, or use of educational technologies (and, more narrowly, digital ones).

Much is made of the technologies that inhabit our classrooms. We hear of “technology-rich” environments that will provide students new ways to learn about core academic subjects. We hear about the ways that educational technologies will prepare students for the 21st-century workforce and develop 21st-century skills. Young students can now learn to code with programmable robots, a first step on a path that leads to a lucrative career in tech. Amidst all of that swooning are a host of worries and anxieties. Are our schools properly equipped with these powerful tools? When they are, are teachers making effective use of them? (The answer is almost assuredly “no” (1)) Will students in under-resourced schools be left out of all of this, and fall further behind? (The answer is almost assuredly “yes”)

Which technologies inhabit our classrooms and how they are used is no doubt an important topic. It’s worth noting, though, that every classroom is and always has been “technology-rich” – though those technologies have not always been digital. Blackboards, whiteboards, workbooks, textbooks, overhead projectors, VCRs, LaserDiscs, desks, desks-with-writing-surfaces, slide rules… The fact that classroom technologies are ever-changing means that the kinds of conversations I have described above can be sustained more or less in perpetuity. In mentioning all of this, I do not mean to suggest that discussions of educational technologies are not worth having. Those technologies are a fundamental part of the environment in which students will learn. They are not only material resources that will be used for teaching and learning, but also shape the kinds of teaching and learning that occur (2). But what I do want to suggest is that all of this talk of educational technology distracts us from what I believe to be a far more important question about technology education: what, exactly, should students be learning about technology in our schools?

Our students grow up in a society that talks a great deal about technology. Whether deliberately or not, every student will receive an education about what technology is, what it does, its place in our society, its effects on us, and on the world. What students learn about technology is not likely to be particularly coherent. It will be an amalgam of sundry and, at times, contradictory views that are cobbled together from the discourse that students encounter. Again, that discourse is unlikely to be particularly coherent, but I do think that we can identify some common narratives that students are likely to encounter on a somewhat regular basis. At the risk of oversimplifying the matter, here are a few that I think could be identified (3):

  1. Technologies solve human problems; they satisfy human needs and wants. While they do definitely come with costs (usually material and economic), there is no question that more technology is a good thing. Satisfying needs/wants, solving problems are inherently good. 

  2. Technological development is linear and progressive; it is part and parcel of the greater project of cultural development. We can speak of societies being more or less technologically “advanced” (and some are “backward”). Progress as a society (economic progress, social progress) necessarily entails technological progress. 

  3. Technology is a dangerous and malevolent force that will eventually replace humanity. It is inevitable that we will develop a self-aware technological system that will turn on its makers, as depicted in films such as The Terminator, The Matrix, and Ex Machina.

  4. Humans are often poor users of technology. Our tools are powerful and full of potential, but we wield them poorly. The negative outcomes of technology that we see around us are due to human shortcomings. If only we would learn to be better users, we could make the world a better place.

No doubt, students will encounter these narratives (and others as well) as part of their schooling, but this will occur in mostly haphazard ways. By and large, students will not ever receive any sort of coherent and deliberate education about these narratives. The narratives will likely never be explicitly spelled out, their merits will never be discussed, they will not be put into conversation with one another, and they will not be overtly critiqued. 

Are we satisfied with this state of affairs? I think it’s safe to say that we are not. The very existence of this blog, this website, and its group of contributors and readers, the proliferation of articles, news stories, books, podcasts that raise critical questions about technology, the growing unease toward “big tech” –there is an underlying unity in these movements in that they challenge those common narratives about technology. When it comes to what technology is and what it does, it’s safe to say that a growing number of people are recognizing that the common narratives are problematic at best, actively destructive at worst.

And so, I think it is safe to say that what students are learning about technology during their schooling is inadequate. And yet, this is an issue that is rarely discussed. To the extent that such conversations are had, they are usually confined to discussions of students’ competencies as users of technology (see Narrative #4). We rarely talk much about how public education might make students aware of the common narratives that exist, help students identify their shortcomings, and provide alternative ways of thinking about technology that are more productive. This needs to change.

My hope is that projects like the Civics of Technology can begin the process of making that change. But this will not be an easy change to make. I began this essay on the topic of educational technology because my enduring concern is that the sheer volume of those conversations will tend to suppress the voices of us who want to discuss technology and education in a different way. For all the attention and funding that educational technologies receive, though, I would contend that they of minor importance when compared to the deeper questions about technology education. The truly great societal and technological problems of our era will not be solved by the application of different educational technologies, or the more skillful utilization of those technologies by schools and teachers. Those great problems will be addressed by creating a thoughtful, reflective, engaged, and empowered public. If not through our schools, how exactly do we intend to create such a public?

I close this already wordy essay with a brief quote that I have always enjoyed:

“…there is only one thing most people agree about concerning technology – it is important.” (4)

Footnotes

  1. See, for instance, Larry Cuban’s 2001 classic: Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom. Or the endless conversations about how we need to develop teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK).

  2. This view of educational technologies as more than mere material means is mostly absent from the discourse – especially within the ed tech scholarship. Much as I would like to discuss this issue at length, it’s not my goal to do so in this particular essay. There are small pockets of more critically-minded scholars, though, who have engaged with these ideas (e.g., Neil Selwyn, and the thoughtful research linked on the Civics of Technology Website).

  3. Narratives 1,2 and 4 are pretty ubiquitous in conversations about educational technology. Which, I think, is very much part of the problem. This is an issue that is partially taken up by Waight and Abd-El-Khalick in an interesting 2012 article.

  4. Kline, S. J. (1985). What is technology? In Scharff, R. C., & Dusek, V. (Eds.). Philosophy of technology: The technological condition: An anthology (pp. 210-212). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

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