Technology determinism

Technology Determinism in Educational Technology Research: Some Alternative Ways of Thinking about the Relationship

between Learning and Technology

Martin Oliver (2011)

05/02/2023 copyright 2006 www.brainybetty.com; All Rights Reserved. 2


TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM

• TD is a term used to describe a set of claims made about the relationship between “technology” and “society”

• The belief that technology is the major cause of social change

• Technology shapes society in some way includes social practice such as learning

• Technology influences society, but society does not influence technology

• Technological development is an autonomous process independent of society


Four Theoretical Perspectives on the Relationship between Learning and

Technology• Activity Theory• Communities of Practice• Actor-Network Theory• Social Construction of Technology


ACTIVITY THEORY

• This concept is built based on Vygotsky’s work• It is also known as cultural-historical activity theory• The unit of analysis is a subject (person) who works by

using an object (tool) Purposeful use of technology within social and historical context

• This theory is used to build deep understanding of specific cases

• Activist theory is very useful for exploring the case of technology use in systematic way discussing the central role of tools


Cont’d …

• Within this theory, technology is understood historically, in fact the researchers focus on learning and technology and make narrow interpretation about historical context

• Vygosky argued that technology and cultural contexts must be discussed holistically


COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

• This concepts are built based on Wenger’s work (1998) which provide alternative perspective on the relationship between technology and practice

• This theory describes learning to identity and competence performance within society learning and participation

• Wenger (1998) proposed two concepts participation and reification


Reification

• The process of formalization and abstraction of practice, so that it can be shared.

• Reification includes any kind of representation of practice from words, terminologies, rules, and tools.

• Technology could be understood as a reification of particular kind of practice

• Technology needs social intervention in practice which tries to meet the people needs


Cont’d ….

• Reification has no deterministic power if community chooses to ignore the technology, it cannot force social change because practice is changed through wider social activity

• Using technology as reification of particular kind of practice, it could be reshaped technology, but the action needs power of social context


ACTOR-NETWORK THEORY (ANT)

• This theory is developed within science and technology studies

• This theory explores how people work with things in order to sustain social process

• The differences between ANT and other theories heterogeneous work, actants, punctualization

• Exploring the effect of the action of technology means emphasizing how technology becomes socially constituted

• People see technology not in its impact, but how technology works in specific institution


Cont’d ….

• The idea of heterogeneity refers to bits and pieces people, technologies, materials, and processes.

• Actants people, technology, resource. If they work well, no need to understand them because it is assumed to be stable and as matter of indifference

• Actants could be understood as “black box” when the operation is failed, we can open it to see what goes wrong


Assumptions of ANT

1. Social practice involves networks that consist of things working together

2. Successful social practice results from the process of heterogonous engineering bits and pieces from social, technical, conceptual, textual which are fitted together

3. This theory focus on how networks are formed and sustained


SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF TECHNOLOGY (SCOT)

• This theory adapts the principle of science and technology studies

• The Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) has grown out of the tenets of social constructivism and the sociology of scientific knowledge.

• SCOT views the development of technology as an interactive process or discourse among technologists or engineers and relevant (or interested) social groups.

• SCOT may be defined as an interactive sociotechnical process that shapes all forms of technology.


Why SCOT?• Technologies or innovations – like the wheel,

the printing press, the bicycle, the assembly line, computers – all shape and organize the world and our lives.

• Individuals – you and me – decide what technologies or parts of a technology are useful, profitable, or comfortable – meaningful.

• Groups – assemblies of individuals – form, each characterized by particular variables, each group holding a stake in a technology.


Cont’d……• These relevant groups or “stakeholders” include

scientists, technologists, economists, politicians, entrepreneurs, you, and me.

• Each stakeholder characterizes innovations with variant problems and solutions – they interpret the innovation differently. – One innovation may be a solution – but, also have a

bug. If the “bug” or problem isn’t resolved, the innovation will fail – relevant social groups – or stakeholders will not buy in.

• In resolving the problems – accepted more or less by significant groups -- the social has shaped the technical. Hence, sociotechnical.