Oliver, Martin;
(2024)
Education and the Decadence of Technology.
IIS University Journal of Arts
, 13
(2)
pp. 1-27.
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Abstract
There is a common belief in the field of Educational Technology that we are on the cusp of a radical transformation of education. Ironically, this be- lief can be traced back at least a century. Technologies are often presented as posing a radical challenge to outmoded forms of education – but even though the promise is of some hoped-for future, technologies for educa- tion are rarely made on the basis of any evidence of actual need, and often enact older ideas about pedagogy – meaning that they are, unfortunately, more likely to be conservative than transformative. In this paper, I will explore this issue by drawing on Lewis Gordon’s work. First, I will review Gordon’s concept of disciplinary decadence, and argue that it provides a useful way to understand this history of the technologies developed for and deployed in education. As can be seen in recent discussion of AI for education, for example, proposed futures rests on the subordination of contrary evidence alongside a ‘technological fix’ of reducing social con- cerns to tractable, technical problems. Then, turning to ideas from Science and Technology Studies, I will then explore how (in Latour’s terms) cri- tiques of educational technology have ‘run out of steam’. In their place, I will argue that feminist theories of care can help resist disciplinary deca- dence through the development of a new, engaged agenda. I will end by proposing that researchers, educators and policy makers need to think differently about the design and use of new technologies for education, working with care to address issues of marginalisation and neglect, and resisting the technologies that fail to engage with these values.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Education and the Decadence of Technology |
| Location: | India |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | https://iisjoa.org/content/april-2024-issue |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Culture, Communication and Media |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10202660 |
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