VOL. 25, No. 1
The emperor’s new computer: ICT, teachers and teaching is a direct allusion to The emperor’s new clothes, an early 19th-century tale that reveals the paradoxical truth about hype. As its title suggests, the edited collection provides a multi-disciplinary look at how information and communication technologies (ICTs) are intersecting with and influencing the realm of education – from elementary classrooms to Ivory Tower policies. Offering a wealth of international examples and timely insights, Di Petta’s The emperor’s new computer documents how ICTs have transformed individuals, instructors, and institutions. Readers are introduced to the worlds of Learning Management Systems (LMS), mobile learning, virtual simulations, and educational web sites, within the context of how technology has shaped contemporary living and learning. Despite its conversational tone, the book brings a critical edge to the issue of technology’s relationship to pedagogy and how that relationship is being questioned and contested. Through the collective work of its authors, this book invites us to look behind the curtain of technology and critically examine the complex and controversial role that ICTs bring to the art of teaching and learning.
Including nine articles, this book offers a concise overview of the ways in which we understand and use ICTs within educational contexts. Historical in its approach and critical in its analysis, The emperor’s new computer: ICT, teachers and teaching proves to be a useful reference for new and more experienced educators, and makes an important contribution to the scholarship of technology and pedagogy. It is a great addition to any Teaching and Learning Centre.
The structure of this edited collection enables readers to question how an evolving culture of technology has prompted the development of a new culture of teaching and learning. Di Petta’s introductory chapter draws us into the world of technophiles, who obsessively live amidst limitless technological opportunities, in contrast with the world of technophobes, who fear all that is electronic. Somewhere in between there are technopragmatics, who believe that individuals and institutions will be better served by thoughtful and thorough inquiry about the role and use of technology in everyday life. Observations about the aftermath of the collision between technology and pedagogy are precisely what the technopragmatics explore in their contributions to The emperor’s new computer: ICT, teachers and teaching.
As a foundational piece, the first submission provides us with descriptive summaries about the philosophy of technology. The author calls for a balanced evaluation of technology, including how a specific technology can both add and detract from the pedagogical experience. In the second article, the discussion moves to the effects of ICTs on the practice of teaching and learning. The author’s goal is to challenge us to consider knowledge within the context of disciplinary understanding, sound pedagogical techniques, and technological skills used to transmit disciplinary knowledge. In the third article, readers are introduced to the pedagogical possibilities of integrating web simulations with secondary school history classrooms, as a means to arrive at controversial public-issue debates, while eliminating the use of biased textbooks. Written from the perspective of a technophile, this article focuses on the use of web-based technologies and their capacity to eliminate the nuances of history and public policy, while broadening opportunities for connection, immersion, and reflection. Alternatively, the fourth contribution speaks to the paradoxical relationship that both teachers and learners have expressed regarding their experience with a Learning Management System (LMS). Ethical discussions about surveillance, self-disclosure and fragmented learning are explored.
The next article introduces readers to mobile learning (m-learning) as the author shares hope for re-defining the philosophy of m-learning based on the African understanding of the human-learning experience. In the sixth article, the digital and pedagogical divide that separates China from its international counterparts is put into focus. In the following submission, suggestions for enhancing the politics of ICT policies within a university teacher education program are offered. As well, we are called to question the institutional practices of integrating technology from perspectives of cost-benefit and learning enrichment. Following a similar perspective, the eighth article presents various models of decision-making and reasoning, all of which are focussed on efficiency and economy. The last paper introduces the concept of Invitational Learning within the context of ICT. For the authors, Invitational Learning promotes a thorough and prudent framework for the planning, policy-development, programming, and evaluation of tech-based learning.
The diversity of perspectives offered in these nine papers invite us to reflect, question, and evaluate the ubiquity and use of information and communication technologies in education. For Di Petta and others, ICTs are not merely instruments to facilitate the teaching and learning experience; technology is a socio-cultural phenomenon that has led to the re-conceptualization of pedagogy. Despite their shifting philosophies and plurality of voices, the contributors to The emperor’s new computer seem to arrive at a consensus – pedagogical success rests between the technophile’s mere enthusiasm and the technophobe’s prudent evaluation of how technology will shape the educational experience.
Kristeen McKee is a Lecturer in the department of Communication Studies at Huntington University/Laurentian University. Her research interests are informed by the study of media ecology, communication theories and culture and technology. She also serves as the Associate Director of The Lougheed Teaching and Learning Centre of Excellence at Huntington University. E-mail: ky_mckee@huntingtonu.ca