INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, EDUCATION AND POSTMODERNISM

Dr.Tom Conlon
University of Edinburgh Faculty of Education
tom.conlon@ed.ac.uk

Translation:
Res.Asst.Ertan Zereyak
Res.Asst.Esma Genç Çolak
Marmara University Faculty of Technical Education
Department of Educational Sciences
ertan@marmara.edu.tr
ecolak@marmara.edu.tr

Abstract

The questions that dominate the discourse of IT in education are mostly at the technical or craft levels. Visionary questions relating to the purpose of education and the proper place of technology are not much discussed. This paper seeks to undermine the idea that such questions should be avoided. The context of postmodernist change is described and two contrasting visions of education are discussed. Each vision is a hypothetical but recognisable representation of certain trends in educational thinking. Each vision has appeal but also severe shortcomings. The paper concludes that unless teachers, learners and communities can articulate their own visions of educational change, new technology could take them into a future that they would never willingly have chosen.

Keywords
Information technology, educational change, postmodernism, paternalism, libertarism.

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