Referring to Technology: The Importance of Conceptual Clarity in Educational Scholarship

• In Event: Roundtable Session 58
  In Roundtable Session: Sex, Scandal, and Pop Culture: Considering Technology in Curriculum Theory

Abstract

Contemporary technology thinkers W. Brian Arthur and Leo Marx share both a concern about the growing disconnect between technology and humanity, and the belief that this disconnect is directly related to a lack of definitional clarity when referring to technology. This paper addresses both of these by developing a set of criteria that allows scholars to evaluate writings that refer to technology. The paper then uses these criteria to point out examples of inconsistencies of definitional clarity within education’s most influential journal, the American Educational Research Association’s, Review of Educational Research. The paper goes on to discuss the importance of its findings and make suggestions for future study.

Author

• Russell Alan Thomas, University of Dayton