Dramatic interaction between professors and students within educational technology.

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Abstract

Science and technology have transformed pedagogy and course management systems (CMS) have been widely adopted by universities. The adoption was, however, rarely self-motivated. Both professors and students have no real autonomy in their decisions when using CMS. While professors may have adopted CMS reluctantly simply in response to the universities’ policies to secure their job positions, students may be instructed by professors and compelled to use CMS to fulfill course requirements. Even though publicly proclaiming at CMS in carrying with pedagogical purposes, both professors and students may have assigned CMS with their own meanings and personal values. Therefore, this paper probes into this conflicting and dramatic attitude and outlines that such attitude not only affects professors and students in perceiving CMS in different manners but also shapes them on how to use and interact with others in it. Dramaturgy is adopted as a theoretical approach in this paper to understand how interaction takes place within CMS using Erving Goffman’s idea. Supported by the data collected from semi-structured interviews, this paper suggests that involved parties, such as teachers and even students, should enjoy more autonomy when adopting educational technology. In addition, instead of regarding adoption of educational technology as an exercise of turning teaching and learning activities from physical platform to virtual one, educationists should take social context where students interact with each other into consideration. Contribution from this study can be a reflection on an important role of interaction in an interplay between science and technology and society.

Author

• Shui Kau Chiu, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University