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Viewpoints of higher education teachers about technologies

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Abstract

In the context of recent debates on technological literacy, a renewed research effort has focused on the nature of technologies.

The aim of this work, which considers ’epistemological knowledge’ as viewpoints which spring into gear in a given situation, is to use questionnaires and interviews to identify the opinions of teachers in a training institute for master technicians in Tunisia on technologies. The objective was to try and define how these teachers perceive the relations between sciences, technologies and societies and how social and cultural aspects affect their discourse on technologies.

The results of the questionnaires and the analysis of their discourses indicate that teachers essentially perceive technology as an applied science for which the ultimate purpose is progress and consumption. The relations identified by teachers between technologies, sciences and societies, reveal dichotomies between science and technology both with respect to the status teachers attribute to knowledge and to their views on its teaching.

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Notes

  1. Instituts Supérieurs des Etudes Technologiques (ISET).

  2. Instituts Supérieurs des Etudes Technologiques.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the thoughtful insights and suggestions made by Prof. Jacques Ginestié on an earlier version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Supérieur de l’Education et de la Formation Continue, 43, rue de la Liberté, Tunis, Tunisie

    Adel Bouras

  2. “Toulouse EducAgro” Ecole Nationale de Formotion Agronomique, Castanet Tolosan, 31326, France

    Virginie Albe

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  1. Adel Bouras
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  2. Virginie Albe
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Correspondence to Virginie Albe.

Appendix: Questionnaire about the nature of technologies (translation from French)

Appendix: Questionnaire about the nature of technologies (translation from French)

Question 1: How are technologies established?

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Bouras, A., Albe, V. Viewpoints of higher education teachers about technologies. Int J Technol Des Educ 18, 285–305 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-007-9027-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-007-9027-3

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