ABSTRACT
The development of educational technology from Skinnerian teaching machines onwards has offered a contrast between rapidly advancing technological potential and slower pedagogical, social and political development. Initially, this had necessarily been disadvantageous; in many cases technology failed to deliver on its potential, often embodying models of learning that owed more to convenience than cognition. However, it is wrong to assume blandly that this will continue to describe the state of affairs in learning technology. Far from a model of irredeemable technological determinism, the choices thrown up by these confusions are the stuff of political and social debate with real choices to be made: for example, it could be suggested that increasingly affordable micro-technology liberates individuals from old forms of capital. For politicians looking to build policy in the information age it should be clear that alternative scenarios can and will result and the extrapolation of policies to build those scenarios will become a key differentiator of political perspectives.
