Schools continue to purchase and install machines and practices from the world of communications technology. In turn, students and teachers are purported to be more "connected," and this connectivity is widely viewed as having a positive influence on teaching and learning. In this paper, however, the authors argue that not only are these…

This paper examines the prevalence of technological interventions in education in emergencies through a case study of private participation in Syrian refugee education in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. This research is conceptually situated within critiques of 'digital humanitarianism', simultaneously interrogating the role of technology in…

This ethnographic case investigates the relationship between the daily organizing work of one education technology "intermediary organization" (IO) in Silicon Valley, California and federal education technology policies. I argue that the IO constructed policy knowledge that reified discourses of "digital meritocracy": a belief…

Educational relations between societies and cultures that begin with benevolent intentions can come to be seen as threats to national autonomy and local preferences. Indeed, side by side with the growth since the first years of this century of Open Educational Resources (OER) there has been worry about their impact on global educational…

This paper explores the tension for educators between the proliferation of mobile, digital technologies, and the widely held belief that environmental learning is best nurtured through place-based approaches that emphasize direct experience. We begin by offering a general critique of technology in culture and education, emphasizing what is at…

It could be said that in the fast-changing field of education technology the initial excitement for a tool or application usually fades away as the next technology emerges on the horizon--leaving little or no room for critical evaluation of how it may best be used in educational settings. Some critics have identified this endless "pursuit of the…

This article presents the authors' response to Hisham B. Ghassib's article entitled "Where Does Creativity Fit into a Productivist Industrial Model of Knowledge Production?" The authors focus on one aspect of Ghassib's (2010) analysis of creativity and knowledge production in the sciences--specifically, the influence of technology on changing…

This article focuses on how we perceive new technology and technological development within educational settings, and seeks to establish a critical link between the rhetoric of information and communications technology (ICT) and what Biesta called "the new language of learning". Within this "new language" the learner is a…

This paper offers a critique of the Chinese philosophy of online distance learning as a means of building a lifelong learning society. Literature about lifelong learning and its implications for online distance learning is reviewed. Documents, reports and research papers are examined to explore the characteristics of the Chinese philosophy of…

Provides a critical analysis of two reports issued by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTa) on the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and attainment levels of primary school children in national tests. Questions the assumptions upon which they are based and the role of teaching staff.…

This response to the previous paper on information and communication technology and attainment levels of primary school students as reported by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTa) is critical of the author's approach to the reports. Emphasizes that they were preliminary reports, commissioned by the government. (LRW)

This article offers a critique of knowledge management. The critique is empirically based on the case study of a Danish software production company's (A-Soft) knowledge management strategy of implementing an information technology (IT) tool known as 'knowledge centre' (KC). The article argues: (1) the discourses on knowledge and learning informing…

The hypermedia nature of the World Wide Web may represent a true paradigm shift in telecommunications, but barriers exist to the Web having similar impact on education. Some of today's college students compare the Web with "bad TV"--lengthy pauses, links that result in error messages, and animation and sound clips that are too brief.…

This paper provides a response to serious critics of media and technology in education. It concludes: (1) media and technology are best used as cognitive tools to learn rather than as surrogate teachers; (2) media and technology are only vehicles for the content and pedagogy that educators design into them; and (3) future efforts to integrate…

This study examines recent initiatives in the Irish Republic to integrate ICT into the primary school system. The study includes an analysis of the social, political and educational background to past initiatives, both government and teacher-led, to make more use of ICT in the general school system over the past 30 years. The government's…