ERIC ED393418: Schools and Technology in a Democratic Society: Equity and Social Justice.

6 Pages·1993·0.16 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
IR 017 754
ED 393 418
Muffoletto, Robert
AUTHOR
Schools and Technology in a Democratic Society:
TITLE
Equity and Social Justice.
PUB DATE
93
6p.; In: Verbo-Visual Literacy: Understanding and
NOTE
Applying New Educational Communication Media
Technologies. Selected Readings from the Symposium of
the International Visual Literacy Association
(Delphi, Greece, June 25-29, 1993); see IR 017
742.
Viewpoints (Opinion/Position Papers, Essays, etc.)
PUB TYPE
Speeches/Conference Papers (150)
(120)
MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
Access to Information; *Critical Theory; Critical
DESCRIPTORS
Thinking; *Educational Technology; *Equal Education;
Instructional Design; Instructional Effectiveness;
Social Theories
*Role of Technology
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
This paper addresses questions concerning the role of
education and technology in a fair and equitable global political and
economic system. The education and information professions have
worked to design effective learning environments and produce various
formats for the delivery of instructional materials. These
presentational formats have tried to offer a believable reconstructed
reality, but very seldom has anyone debated the consequences of that
reconstructed reality on individual lives. Technology can actually be
used in several ways to further that inquiry. It can serve as a
medium for discourse, as a way to access new information and new ways
of thinking about information, and even, through virtual reality, as
delivery
a simulator of experience. All curriculum materials,
systems, and learning environments not only generate content but also
refer to ways of thinking and knowing. It would seem that some
gained from
answers to problems of educational equity could be
critical theory and the accompanying recognition of educational
technology itself as a social construction. (Contains 13 references.)
(BEW)
***********************************************************************
*
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
*
from the original document.
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
CENTER (ERIC)
D This document has been reproduced as
received from the person or organization
originating it.
SCHOOLS AND TECHNOLOGY IN A DEMOCRATIC
0 Minor changes have been made to
improve reproduction quality
SOCIETY:
"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS
^
MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY
Points of view or opinions stated in this
EQUITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Alice
document do not necessarily represent
D. Walker
official OERI position or policy
by
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Robert Muffoletto
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."
Questions need to be addressed
unrecognized by researchers in our field.
concerning the role of education and
Beneath all of this lies the ideology of the
machine and the expert (Muffoletto,
technology in a fair and equitable global
political and economic system.
As
1993).
individuals, and as a profession, involved
Our field has strived to create
in the research, development, production,
and dissemination of educational
through various presentational formats a
reconstructed reality. Most of the debate
experiences for children and adults, we
in these attempts has centered on the
need to consider what we have created and
veracity of the experience; does it feel real,
will create in light of social justice and
does it reflect reality, is it efficient, and is
democratic principals.
it effective in its delivery. There has been
hi story
little debate on the consequences of those
Our
educational
i n
.
strivings for a reconstructed reality on the
technology is full of attempts to design and
lives of real people and their culture. With
produce effective learning environments.
the recent developments in virtual reality
(I realize it is not our history but a history
that has evolved out of conflicts and
and multimedia hardware and software we
must begin and continue our attempts to
representing
contradictions
various
address the psychological, social, and
interests. There are many histories, many
We, as a
voices yet to be heard.)
political implications and effects of what
profession, have consumed various
we do as perceived experts, as educational
learning theories and have produced
No
technologists and media educators.
various formats for the delivery of
longer can we afford to claim the neutrality
of a modernist tradition or the non-
educational and instructional materials.
hi storical consciousness
which
Our collective purpose has been to increase
accompanies a positivist discourse towards
the effectiveness of teaching materials and
reality and experience. As educators,
the efficiency of the learning process. At
researchers, and developers of learning
the same time, our purpose has been an
experiences we must find avenues and
ideological one. The materials we have and
entry points for debates and practices that
will produce speak of us 'and others in
argue and provide for spaces that support
ways which construct them as we wish to
see them. Technology is not a neutral
and maintain democracy and social justice.
The first step I believe is to recognize
It
conduit, but an ideological apparatus.
ourselves for what we are: a social,
speaks of the world as we have created it.
and
hi stori cal
epistemological
,
Our field is grounded in logical
construction. The second step is to define
what we mean by democracy and social
positivism, capitalism, and a 19th and 20th
The third is to position our
justice.
century notion of progress and classical
definitions ir practice.
realism. Technology, both as machine and
as system, was and is linked with
a Medium for
Technology
as
modernism and progress.
Reality,
Discourse
especially social reality, and the stories
told about it by experts, is understood to
Technology is more than a tool, it is
exist outside the individual and has for the
most part gone unquestioned and
a medium which effects how we think and
BEST COPY AVAIIABLE
Verbo- Visual Literacy
98
.male, and European). How one thinks
interact with others and machines
about the world and one's self in
it
(Rheingold, 1991). It is a form which not
determines the rationale for understanding
but
only controls and limits discourse
why things are the way they are (common
determines the nature of the content as well
sense), and not why reality is thought
Technology is more
(Postman, 1992).
about in that manner.
than access to information and learning
experiences. Technology determines the
How one thinks about the world as
nature of that information as well as our
well as self, is how one has been told to
As a medium of
understanding of it.
act and think in relationship to self and
experience (discourse), technology effects
Having information, but not
others.
and our
our consciousness, our visions,
divergent ways of thinking, maintains the
expectations. The wetware of a modernist
individual and the community in a
technology constructs the individual as a
powerless relationship to those who do.
subject (Berger & Luckmann, 1966;
Having access to information may create a
The technological
Muffoletto, 1991).
false conscic-Isness resulting in less real
medium is more than a mind manager and
power than before.
a reality simulator, it is a
consciousness
generator --an ideological horizon line.
Simulations as Experience
Information
Virtual reality, as a technology of
experience, poses a number of questions.
If technology is to provide us with
First and most basic, we must consider
number
access to information, there are a
what the relationship is between a virtual
of issues that must be considered and
Is it
reality and something we call reality.
addressed. Simply providing access to
good enough to be concerned with only
information is not enough in a social
the veracity of the experience and its
context where historically access has been
correspondence to what is believed to be
limited to the wealth, gender, and race of
out there? (The physical and social
the individual or community. Access to
sciences can be separated here, but
information must also include equity in
access to ways of thinking about
questions concerning how we know reality
and truth are essential to both paradigms.)
information. If information is to be used to
In doing so we must offer up for analysis
empower people within the democratic
the manner in which we came to think
tradition, then educational experiences
about what is out there. We tend to forget
must provide a means for equal access to
that our understanding of what we think is
ways of thinking as well as valuing
out there is a result of the tools we use to
different ways of thinking.
the language we use to
explore it,
construct it, and the beliefs and context
To have information and not know
used to understand it and give it meaning
what to do with it, is as serious problem as
(Goodman, 1978; Rorty, 1991). Change
not having information at all (of course
the tool, the language, or the system, and
this begs the question about the nature of
reality differs. As individuals concerned
information, epistemology, legitimization).
with the creation of simulations, other
Individuals who historically have been
worlds, we can not forget that we exist
positioned on the margins of power and
within a social reality, a virtual realty of
knowledge because of their culture, their
We must also recognize that
sorts.
economic class, their gender, their race, cr
through discourse management, our
their religion, may have been given equal
constrUcted reality has become reified and
access to information (even in limited
but not ways of knowing
objectified.
ways),
(thinking). For example, the cultural ways
reality
virtual
if
Second,
is
of making sense in the United States has
understood in terms of simulations, looks,
been limited to primarily one cultural and
feels, and sounds-alike, virtual reality
economic framework (white, middle-class,
99
Technology in a Democratic Society
Whatley, 1990). Questions referring to
must be undcrstood as a discourse. As a
equity and social justice emerge out of a
discourse virtual reality must be analyzed
discourse on social learning, power and
Borrowing from
as any other discourse?
control, benefit, and history.
Cherryholmes (1988) we would need to
question virtual reality by asking: Who is
School Reform and Technology:
controlling the discourse (reality)?; Who is
Towards Social Inquiry and Justice
allowed to speak and listen?; What is being
said?; Who t enefits from what is being
materials,
Curriculum
delivery
said?; as well as, What is not being
systems, and learning environments may
spoken?
social
understood
as
be
texts,
representational in nature, always overtly
Any simulation or virtual reality must
be considered from two different
referring to something else, while covertly
referring to themselves as a formative
On one side we must
perspectives.
medium. The form and content of learning
consider who is constructing the world to
environments not only speak to methods
be experienced by users (students,
and content, but also refer to ways of
teachers, workers, infonauts). Notions
thinking and knowing. Thinking about all
concerning hypertext environments,
learning environments, methodologies,
interactive video, and virtual reality include
and contents as representational, as
authors and readers, guides and travellers,
and explorers.
ideological representations, adds another
navigators
N o
our thinking about
to
dimension
technological environment, as a system, is
Every author,
every
schooling, technology, and change.
authorless.
programming production team, every
navigator, holds a world view, an
Change always refers to difference.
In education as well as business, change is
ideological perspective, a consciousness
considered as a reply to some identified
about self and others. On the other side,
How these problems are
social,
consider
problem.
the
must
we
identified is as important to understand as
psychological, and political effects of a
what the problem is reported as being.
constructed world on the readers of the
Needs assessments, goal development,
virtual text.
and vision statements refer to a history, the
present, and to a future.
Futures are
Social Learning
normally related to notions of progress.
How we come to be as subjects, as
What the problem is, is determined
social beings, is a result of experiencing
by who (who being not an individual but a
constructed texts (texts is used here in a
community) is asking. If problems and
post-modernist manner) and meanings
solutions are defined in terms of
(Belsey, 1980). All texts are hegemonic
efficiency, outcomes, and management,
and are part of a larger discourse encoded
the problems and solutions will be of one
with meanings, values, and ideological
nature. If problems are contextualized in a
perspectives on others and self. How and
discourse of democracy and social justice,
what we learn about a social world is the
efficiency, outcomes, and management
result of experiences with various
may be part of the solution bt4 to what and
discourses about that world. In doing so,
how they refer to will be different. As
we either reproduce dominate meanings
education in the United States considers
and ways of knowing or offer oppositional
why and how it must change, technology
and alternative discourses (Hall, Hobson,
as a medium which effects knowing,
& Willis,1980). In either case, individuals
institutional and individual relationships,
as members of interpretive communities
as well as a sense of self and others, must
(Fish, 1980) understand a reality to be as it
be better understood within a discourse of
is, to be real and truthful, because of their
democratic ideals. The problem needs to
experiences with various formative and
informative discourses (Ellsworth &
be redefined. (Again, the language has to
4
Verbo-Visual Literacy
100
breaking from the common sense reified
be problematic when we consider that
world offered by modernist and positivist
there is not one education, but many.)
alike, would need to address issues
concerning the function of schooling and a
Critical Theory
technology of instruction in a democratic
and Educational Technology
society.
al theory offers an entry point
Criti
.
References
for unpacking the values, assumptions,
and practices of educational technology.
Cherryholmes, C. H. (1988). Power and
From a post-modernist perspective critical
criticism: Poststructural investigations
It
theory claims no absolute authorship.
in education. New York & London:
its own subjectivity and
declares
Teachers College Press.
ideological construction. As a theory
working within a post-modernist tradition,
Critical practice.
(1980).
Belsey, C.
those who practice critical theory are
London & New York: Methuen.
concerned with questions of power,
control, and epistemology as social
Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1%6).
constructions with benefits to some and
The social construction of reality: A
not to others.
treatise in the sociology of knowledge.
Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
A critical theory of educational
technology would be concerned with
Ellsworth, E. & Whatley, M. H. (1990).
issues of consciousness and epistemology,
The ideology of images in educational
power and control, institutional and
media: Hidden curriculums in the
individual relationships (Feenberg, 1991).
New York & London:
classroom.
Questions concerning equity and social
Teachers College Press.
justice, and the construction of individuals
as subjects within an ideological discourse
Feenberg, A. (1991). Critical theory of
would be critical to the unpacking and
New York & Oxford:
technology.
redefinition of the theories and practices of
Oxford University Press.
educational technology. A major impact of
critical theory on the field of educational
Is there a text in this
Fish, S.
(1980).
technology would be to recognize itself as
class? The authority of interpretive
of
a social construction with a history
communities. Cambridge & London:
conflicts, struggles, and contradictions. In
Harvard University Press.
understanding the social and historical
nature of the field, the values and
Ways of
Goodman, N.
(1978).
assumptions which are expressed through
Indianapolis &
various discourses would be open for
worldmaking.
Cambridge: Hackett .
analysis.
Hall, S., Hobson, D., Lowe, A., &
Conclusion
(1980). Culture, media,
Willis, P.
language:Working papers in cultural
Schooling, in reflecting a democratic
London:
studies,
1972-79.
a society
to
requires
society,
be
Hutchinson.
democratic, non-racist, non-sexist, and not
class based. In positioning education as a
Muffoletto, R. (1991). Technology and
major socializing institution, with a major
Breaking
the
texts:
window.
role in forming the world views and
The uses of
Paradigms regained:
subjectivities of its participants, the
illutninative, semiotic and post-modern
products and processes of educational
criticism as modes of inquiry in
technology do play a major role in how
Englewood
educational technology.
communities of individuals think about
others and self. A critical theory position,
101
Technology in a Democratic Society
(1991)
Virtual reality.
Rheingold, H.
Cliffs, N.J.: Educational Technology
New York: Summit.
Publications.
Rorty, R. (1991) Objectivity, relativism,
(Eds.)
Muffoletto, R., & Knupfer, N.
andtruth. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge
Computers in education:
(1993)
political,
Social,
University Press.
historical
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Press.
Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The
surrender of culture to technology.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
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