Class Four Summary

Class Four began with an introductory ten minute presentation on audio tape from Darin Barney's 2007 Hart House Lecture at the University of Toronto. Then an introduction to postmodernism set the stage for discussions (to follow) by Kenway, Poster and others.

The Kenway paper was discussed. Two previews from TED were presented in order to set the stage for presentations to come in class. Al Gore's presentation on global warming illustrated how the TED site can bring world experts into the classroom. A TASTE OF TED provided a five minute overview of the TED phenomenon as an example of creativity in presentations.



Class notes:


Postmodernism and Internet Pedagogy

One cannot understand information technology without understanding postmodernism. So what is postmodernism?

Here are two simple definitions. Lyotard’s classic definition is “incredulity towards metanarratives". Another definition is “alternative conflicting discourses.”

Questioning Technology.
The modernist view sees technology as the saviour of humankind. The postmodernist view is skeptical sometimes even pessimistic. The yay-sayers dismiss the postmodernists as “luddites” but that designation is clearly not fair.

The literature on internet pedagogy is often characterized by the use of the term postmodern. Whether Jane Kenway’s article the Information SuperHighway and post-modernity, or the work of Darin Barney, or Richard Coyne’s two significant works, Designing information tcchnology in the postmodern age and his follow-up study, the term postmodern is a significant foundational concept once one turns to the academic literature. At the very least, if one wants to speak intelligently in the theoretic domain of internet pedagogy, a grounding in postmodern ideas is critical.

So we need an entre into PM. On the one hand it is a slippery concept, sometimes difficult to grasp and subject to some degree of scorn by those who don’t understand it or who are frightened by its implications. The term should be neither scary nor difficult.

Postmodernism is not an ideology which one buys into such as Marxism or even Behaviorism. Postmodernism is described by Jean Francois Lyotard as "a condition." It is a condition of contemporary society, and it is a condition which many now think has been caused by technology. If that is so, then educational technologists are part of that condition. Charles Newman writes "Post-modern means the first culture in history totally under the control of twentieth century technology."


In a 1994 paper, I identified six characteristics of the PM conduction as multiple voicing, breakup of the canon, supplement, non-linearity, slippery signifieds, and ironic juxtaposition.

Multiple voicing: The modern classroom spoke with voice of the teacher and the voice of the textbook. Most often, there was nothing else. Which voices should we silence?"

breakup of the canon When things were simpler, if they ever were, there was a single canon. Whose culture should we marginalize now?



The supplement, Derrida argues, has two functions: It adds on and it eventually replaces

non-linearity Postmodern educational technology is unique in its ability to deliver content in non-linear ways.

slippery signifieds In a postmodern world, meanings do not stay put. In a postmodern classroom meanings get tangled with local contexts. Meanings (signifieds) are slippery and changing.

ironic justaposition This stems from the fact that postmodernism is self-referential and self-reflective. It juxtaposes and accepts ironic situations not as being right or wrong, but simply, and existentially, as being.