Abstract
There is now a general consensus amongst education policy makers that there is a shift towards a global knowledge society that requires that we teach for those general transferable thinking and learning skills associated with communication, collaboration, and creativity. We argue that a dialogic theory of education provides the best basis for understanding and teaching these knowledge age skills. We outline a dialogic theoretical framework for educational design incorporating the use of communications technology that offers a response to the educational challenge of the knowledge society. In essence our approach is to draw learners into dialogues across difference. Handling the complexity of such dialogues, we argue, develops individual and collective thinking through a shift in the identities of learners towards greater openness, not only openness to listening to the voices of others but also openness to new possibilities. Our approach involves using new communications technology not so much to “ediate thinking”, as in some socio-cultural approaches to the use of ICT in education, but as a way to open, widen, deepen, and resource “dialogic space”. In this chapter we offer evidence from a number of case studies to illustrate the potential of this dialogic pedagogy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Baker, M. J., Quignard, M., Lund, K., & Séjourné, A. (2003). Computer-supported collaborative learning in the space of debate. In B. Wasson, S. Ludvigsen & U. Hoppe (Eds.), Designing for change in networked learning environments: Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning 2003 pp. 11–20. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Bakhtin, M. (1986). Speech genres and other late essays. Austin: University of Texas.
Bell, D. (1999). The coming of post-industrial society. New York: Basic Books.
Biesta, G. (2006). Beyond learning: Democratic education for a human future. Boulder CO: Paradigm Press.
Bloom, B. S. (Ed.) (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals: Handbook I, cognitive domain. New York, Toronto: Longmans, Green.
Bruns, A. (2007). Beyond difference: Reconfiguring education for the User-Led Age. Paper presented at the ICE 3 (Ideas, Cyberspace, Education) conference at Ross Priory, Loch Lomond, Scotland, 21–23 March 2007. Accessed on 10th August 2009 from http://snurb.info/publications.
Castells, M. (2001). The internet galaxy: Reflections on the internet, business, and society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cunliffe, L. (2008). A case study: How interdisciplinary teaching using information and communication technology and supported by a creative partner impacted on creativity in an extra-curricular school activity. International Journal of Education through Art, 4, 1.
De laat, M. (2006). Networked learning. Apeldoorn: Politie Academy.
Drucker, P. F. (1969, April 24). The knowledge society. New Society, 13(343), 629–631.
European Council (2000). Presidency conclusions of the council of the European Union. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/summits/lis1_en.htm.
Goody, J. (1977). The domestication of the savage mind. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Hobson, P. (2002). The cradle of thought: Exploring the origins of thinking. London: Macmillan.
Jacoby, A. (2007). The knowledge Society and global dynamics in education politics. European Educational Research Journal, 6(1), 39–45.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate periperal participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Leimann, M. (2002). Toward semiotic dialogism: The role of sign mediation in the dialogical self. Theory and Psychology, 12(2), 221–235.
Leitch, S. (2006). Prosperity for all in the global economy world class skills. Final report of the Leitch Review of Skills. London: HMSO/HM Treasury.
Levin, H., & Rumberger, R. (1995). Education, work and employment in developed countries: Situation and future challenges. In J. Hallak, & F. Caillods (Eds.), Educational planning: The international dimension pp. 69–88. UNESCO Bureau of Education, International Institute for Educational Planning. London: Garland.
Lévinas, E. (1978). Autrement qu’être ou au-dela de l’essence. Paris: Livre de poche.
Lévinas, E. (1989). Substitution. Translated by A. Lingis. In S. Hand (Ed.), The levinas reader pp 88–127. Oxford: Blackwell.
Ligorio, M. B., & Pugliese, A. C. (2004). Self-positioning in a text-based environment. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 4(4), 337–353.
McMahon, H., & O’Neill., W. (1993). Computer-mediated zones of engagement in learning. In T. Duffy, J. Lowyk & D. Jonassen (Eds.), Designing environments for constructive learning pp.37–57. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Mercer, N., Dawes, R., Wegerif, R., & Sams, C. (2004). Reasoning as a scientist: Ways of helping children to use language to learn science. British Educational Research Journal, 30(3), 367–385.
Ong, W. J. (1982). Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word. London: Methuen.
Quisumbing, L. R. (2005). Education for the world of work and citizenship: Towards sustainable future societies. Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, 35(3), 289–301.
Resnick, L. (1987). Education and learning to think. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Tomasello, M., Carpenter, M., Call, J., Behne, T., & Moll, H. (2005). Understanding and sharing intentions: The origins of cultural cognition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28(5), 691–735.
Trickey, S., & Topping, K. J. (2004). Philosophy for children: A systematic review. Research Papers in Education, 19(3), 365–380.
Trilling, B., & Hood, P. (2001). Learning, technology and education reform in the knowledge age, or ‘We’re Wired, Webbed and Windowed, Now What?’. In C. Paechter, R. Edwards, R. Harrison, & P. Twining, (Eds.), Learning, space and identity. London, UK: Paul Chapman Publishing & The Open University, Also at: http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/rs/654.
UNESCO (2005). Towards Knowledge Societies: Unesco World Report. [http://www.unesco.org/en/worldreport]
Wegerif, R. (2007). Dialogic, education and technology: Expanding the space of learning. New York, Berlin: Springer.
Wegerif, R., & Dawes, L. (2004). Thinking and learning with ICT: Raising achievement in primary classrooms,. London: Routledge.
Wegerif, R., Littleton, K., & Jones, A. (2003). Stand alone computers supporting learning dialogues in primary classrooms. International Journal of Educational Research, 39(8), 851–860.
Wegerif, R., McLaren, B. M., Chamrada, M., Scheuer, O., Mansour, N., & Mikšátko, J. (2009). Recognizing Creative Thinking in Graphical e-Discussions using Artificial Intelligence Graph-Matching Techniques. a paper presented at the 8th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL-09), June 8–13, 2009, University of the Aegean, Rhodes, Greece.
Wegerif, R., Mercer, N., & Dawes, L. (1999). From social interaction to individual reasoning: An empirical investigation of a possible socio-cultural model of cognitive development. Learning and Instruction, 9(5), 493–516.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wegerif, R., Mansour, N. (2010). A Dialogic Approach to Technology-Enhanced Education for the Global Knowledge Society. In: Khine, M., Saleh, I. (eds) New Science of Learning. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5716-0_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5716-0_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-5715-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-5716-0
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)