Techno-Pedagogies: Overcoming the Luddite/Technophile Dichotomy in Teacher Education

• In Event: STS Pedagogy – Methods for Teaching Sociotechnical Ethics

Abstract

In PK-12 schools, teachers are often positioned as responsible for whether technologies are successfully implemented or not. At one time, there is a long history of empirical research that shows teachers’ resistance to technologies that do not fit their existing classroom structures. The result are accusations of teachers being against progress or stuck in the past, essentially the accusation of being “Luddites.” At the same time, there are popular narratives that reproduce the image of the exceptional technologically-gifted teacher who, against the currents of resistance, implements technology successfully to the benefit of themselves and their students. Technology companies have capitalized on this technophile image, giving teachers incentives to be “brand ambassadors” for their classroom devices or opportunities for new certifications (e.g. Google teacher certificates).

This paper explores these two parallel narratives about technology and teaching in U.S. education. I argue that this Luddite/technophile dichotomy impedes more nuanced understandings of teaching and technology as already always co-constitutive, whether teaching with chalkboards or smartboards. To highlight this fact, I develop the concept of techno-pedagogies. I show how this concept framed my introduction of key STS ideas (e.g. the social construction of technology, theories of technological politics, etc.) to a team of curriculum developers for a M.A. in educational technology program. Ultimately, this helped the team to consider three macro-ethical issues that we deemed important for teachers in the M.A. program: the automation of the teaching profession, the planned obsolescence of educational technologies, and student privacy on educational social media platforms.

Author

• Michael Lachney, Michigan State University