ABSTRACT
Alongside the hype that surrounds the accelerated introduction of and the increased use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) are fears about what these technologies do to education. Norm Friesen’s “Brilliance and Simulation” offers a particularly vivid account of these concerns through a phenomenological exploration of the different ways to dissect frogs. On the one hand, there is the traditional way that involves the cutting open of a formaldehyde-preserved frog. On the other, there are computer-based virtual frog dissection programs. While Friesen is careful to limit his analysis to a comparison of the different experiences produced by these two sorts of dissection practices, rather than wading into thorny questions about the ethics of virtual and real frog dissections, he does end with a hint of criticism of the virtual. While the appeal of virtual dissection is that students do not have to work with a dead animal (which is a definite draw for those with objections to the practice), this is also a drawback. The simulation cannot fully replicate, or arguably approximate, the smell of the chemicals, the crack of the rib cage, the difficulty of removing the organs, etc. To describe this simulated nature, Friesen introduces Albert Borgmann’s analysis of the “hyperreal” from Crossing the Postmodern Divide. There, Borgmann argues that ‘postmodern’ technologies, in particular computers, present a reality that is more brilliant and flawless than ‘real’ reality, what also might be called world in something like a Heideggarian sense. Through the presenting a simulation of the world, the hyperreal highlights certain features far more than they would be experienced otherwise. In doing so, the simulation is more perfect than the real thing because it presents it cleanly, without friction. Without work on the teacher’s part, the simulation lacks important aspects that important for education, specifically: “Opacity, disruption and upheaval—rather than … withdrawal and protection” (Friesen 2011: 198). The former occurs in ‘real’ dissections, while virtual dissections make the latter far more likely. The tendency of virtual dissection to limit opacity, disruption, and upheaval prevents it from being more than a mere simulation, even if such simulations can still be used to achieve certain pedagogical goals. While this is a narrow example of how ICTs transform education, Friesen, building in part of Borgmann, effectively captures the risk of using simulations.
