ABSTRACT
Using a specific classroom case as a starting point, this chapter explores a number of problematic issues surrounding the deployment of new technologies in conventional classrooms. Using the idea of ‘classroom aliens’ (in this sense both the students with their technological familiarity, and the technology with its challenge to the customs, culture and norms of subject-based pedagogy) we ask some fundamental questions about how these new capabilities challenge and change the culture and structure (or logic) of contemporary classroom life. These questions are addressed through an exploration of three key concepts: firstly the ‘capabilities’ of new technologies and, secondly, the ‘tipping points’ which are reached when these capabilities alter the pace and pattern of interaction, organisation and spatial dynamics of knowledge creation in classrooms. Finally, the idea of ‘assemblages’ is introduced as a useful metaphor for thinking about the fluid, interconnected nature of classroom life in schools. Capabilities are examined through the possibilities of ICTs, while the tipping points focus on the epistemological diversity that accrues in classrooms and the ways in which new technologies can shift the balance of authority in terms of pedagogy and learning. The final section suggests that new metaphors are needed to open up the ‘black boxes’ of classrooms and ICTs, making them more readable for teachers as dynamic social formations.
