Technology and Teaching: A Moral Perspective

• In Event: Ethical and Conceptual Analysis of Science, Technology, and STEAM in Education

Abstract

Emerging digital technologies have come with a promise to disrupt and transform education. For example, digital devices promise to reconfigure teaching, freeing the teacher from content presentation, and allowing them to work alongside students in their learning. However, such developments are not without criticism. Technology comes with the danger of shaping our understanding of teaching and learning as narrowly instrumental. Critics of this perspective have developed rich alternative conceptualization of the role technology plays in education in order to better assess technology’s educational potential. Drawing on this literature, I turn to the perspective of the teacher. I argue that the moral dimension of teaching serve as an important resource for judging the appropriateness of technology in education.

Author

• Matthew Hastings, University of Colorado - Boulder