Why a Critical Perspective is Central: Some Social Implications of Technology Use in the ES Disciplines

If our increasing use of technology has been well intentioned, it has also been short sighted. Each of the uses of technology in computer-enriched programs—while potentially valuable at the local level of a particular classroom, teacher, and student—is based in the underlying assumptions that Selfe will sketch out: 1)sthat computers, a natural outgrowth of the project of Science, can serve as a useful teaching and learning tools, 2)sthat students will need to use these tools when they graduate so that they can fulfill their goals for social and economic prosperity, and 3)sthat computer-based communication environments will be the primary environments for global communication in the 21st century. What our discipline has not helped students see is that computers are artifacts of our culture and that technology, in general, is a complex cultural and social formation that is aligned with other formations that characterizing our culture—among them racism, sexism, and classism. C. Selfe will provide the background for this claim by providing a brief historical examination and then a snapshot of our current educational situation as it relates to technical literacy programs.

Presenter: Cynthia L. Selfe

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Target Audience: Not Applicable

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