ABSTRACT
This title was first published in 2002.The educational potential of information and communications technology (ICT) has been speculated upon endlessly - from the early days of the micro-computer to the present excitement surrounding virtual education and e-learning. Now, with current multi-billion dollar initiatives such as the UK National Grid for Learning and US Technology Literacy Challenge, ICT is an unavoidable element of education. Yet despite a plethora of promises and policies, new technologies have failed to be wholly integrated into education. Telling Tales on Technology critically examines the role of ICT in education and explores how, given its assumed importance, new technology remains a peripheral part of much of what goes on in education. Based on in-depth qualitative studies, the book takes a comprehensive yet questioning look over the past two decades of educational technology policy and practice and positions it within the wider social, cultural, political and economic notion of the information age. Drawing on interviews with students, teachers, politicians and business people as well as comprehensive documentary analysis, this is an essential text for anyone thinking seriously about the use of ICT in education.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|20 pages
Taking a Qualitative Approach to Technology and Education
part II|50 pages
The Politics and Economics of Technology and Education
chapter Chapter Three|15 pages
The Discursive Construction of ‘Educational Computing’ in the UK, 1979-1989
chapter Chapter Four|14 pages
The Discursive Construction of the National Grid for Learning, 1997-2002
chapter Chapter Five|19 pages
The Role of Big Business in UK Education Technology Policy and Practice
part III|46 pages
Individual Learners and Technology
part IV|40 pages
Qualitative Explorations of ‘Virtual’ Education
part V|26 pages
Lessons to be Learnt?