Abstract
Drawing on critical theory, this book looks at the tensions between the promise to transform education through the use of digital technology and the tendency to utilize digital technology in instrumental and technical ways. This chapter provides a review of key ideas used in the book. The first part of the review revisits critical theory, with the focus on Marcuse’s critique of technology and Habermas’s theory of communicative action. The second part of the review clarifies this book’s understanding of democracy and citizenship. The chapter goes on to argue that, if indeed our worldview is swayed by instrumental reasoning, then our understanding of what counts as being a good citizen is informed by that rationality. As this book considers the integration of digital technology in education, it calls for considering how the embodiment of digital technology has influenced on our everyday lives and, perhaps more broadly, how the idea of lifeworld is perceived throughout new channels of communication.
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Notes
- 1.
Digital technology refers to all Information and Communication Technology (ICT), such as computers, tablets, smartphones, videos, presentations, digital whiteboards, and any accessible digital device that enables communicating and acquiring information.
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Mamlok, D. (2021). Introduction. In: The Great Promise of Educational Technology. New Frontiers in Education, Culture, and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83613-9_1
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