It's not about the tool, it's about the ideology

Abstract

While it is often argued that technology could act as a change agent and transform educational practices, individuals, communities, government and society holding their own ideological beliefs limit such a liberalisation of the educational system. To show that the use of educational technology is part of a dialectical struggle this article explores the: current use of technology in the classroom; development of standards and approaches
to learning technology; and the use of computer and video games. The design, development, integration and use of technology in the classroom is driven by individual and
institutional ideologies that support current hegemonic constructions maintained through
observation and control systems. The development of standards for learning management
systems (for example the Sharable Content Object Reference Model and the associated
Learning Object Metadata Standard) underpin the concept of Reusable Learning Objects
(RLO). The conceptualization, development, deployment and use of RLOs is ideologically
driven and has little to do with contemporary ideas of learning and everything to do with
fundamental and totalitarian ideologies of instruction. The blended approach to learning,
where technology is introduced into existing courses where appropriate, sees technological
objects (such as digital information, discussion boards, and chat sessions) as an
additional component to existing courses. The use of technology in such a way does not
allow for the re-conceptualisation of existing ideological practices and therefore limits
educational transformation. Computer game technology could be used as a powerful tool
to support learning. However, many supporters of the use of games in education argue
for the use of simulations that are either ideologically suspect (for example the use of
game software used to train military personal as a useful educational device) or based
on model-using rather that model-building. An analysis of successful computer games
shows that players are presented with either realistic environments that include complex
multifaceted characters involved in richly textured narratives or are designed to support
male fantasies (both erotic and authoritarian), inculcate self-discipline (especially through
reflex), include control-and-monitoring (preparing workers for a global economy) and
are gender exclusive. This article argues that technology can only be used within specific
idiosyncratic, homological and inclusive ideologies that in most cases reproduce the past
into the future, which is making real a neo-liberal dream.

South African Journal of Higher Education Vol. 21 (6) 2008: pp. 655-671