[Bridging_the_digital_divide] A Manifesto for Instructional
Technology: Hyperpedagogy
Jason Barkeloo
jbarkeloo at touchsmart.net
Wed Jul 14 10:03:39 EDT 2004
A Manifesto for Instructional Technology: Hyperpedagogy
Jim Dwight
Virginia Tech
Author Bio | E-mail Author
Jim Garrison
Virginia Tech
Author Bio | E-mail Author
We believe hypertext and hypermedia solidify bold and original ideas
having the power to open new realms of creative possibility.
Unfortunately, we find the new tools encrusted within concepts borrowed
from traditional curriculum theory and instructional design. Our goal
in this paper is to liberate hypertext; doing so requires challenging
Western metaphysics. We rely on the philosophy of John Dewey to
disclose this metaphysics and propose an alternative. The paper reviews
dominant models of curriculum, especially Ralph Tyler’s, revealing
their concealed metaphysical assumptions. Our efforts are greatly aided
by Herbert M. Kliebard’s critique of the Tyler rationale, exposing the
fact that, in spite of its inflated claims, all there is to Tyler’s
rationale is ‘‘the philosophical screen.’’ That is also all we think
there is to all the dominant models of curriculum. We show that the
philosophical screen is largely comprised of a concealed metaphysics
before concluding by showing how hypertext and hypermedia, freed of
dogmatic metaphysics, may yield what we call hyperpedagogy, based upon
theories of emergent pedagogy and transactional metaphysics.
Executive Summary
Computers in the classroom offer exciting and promising educational
potential and one of the most auspicious ideas circulating in the field
is hypertext. Hypertext, and hypermedia, actualizes bold and original
ideas having the power to open new realms of creative possibility. One
of the boldest and most original of these ideas is poststructuralism.
Poststructuralist thinking rejects the notions of a fixed and final
telos, absolute origin, or ultimate fixed center (or foundation) to any
process, including learning processes. Unfortunately, structuralist
concepts borrowed from traditional curriculum theory squeeze the life
out of hypertext. Our goal in this article is to reconceptualize how
classroom computing can make appropriate use of the new tools of
hypertext. Doing so requires us to challenge some of the most
entrenched dogmas of Western thought. We have in mind the metaphysics
that emerged in the writings of Plato and Aristotle 2,500 years ago
and have been promulgated ever since. This metaphysics assumes fixed
and final essences that are the ultimate telos of all natural
processes, including intelligent inquiry and learning. Structuralist
metaphysics further assumes that ultimate ends and essences regulate
the process so it achieves preordained objectives. Supposedly, acorns
become oak trees because they have the latent potential to achieve
their perfect essence. The same false assumption holds for children’s
potential for becoming perfectly rational adults. Currently,
educational objectives and standards determined in advance of the
opportunity for learning provide the ultimate telos and the essence of
proper learning.
The aim of this article is to nudge those in the field of education who
advocate the expanded use of computers in the classroom into a state of
discontent and disequilibrium, so that we can chart new courses in the
inchoate and evolving globalized digital culture. To do this in the
deepest, most disturbing way possible, we must shed light on the
cardinal principles of the structuralist metaphysics that has dominated
2,500 years of Western thought by deconstructing its liabilities.
Dogmatic metaphysics went largely unchallenged until Darwin proposed
the theory of evolution. The word “species” is just the Latin for the
ancient Greek word for essence (eidos); essences evolve though they
have no fixed and final telos determined in advance—as should
educational objectives.
Our article is a manifesto; it calls for digital technology in
education to embrace forms of pedagogy appropriate to hypertext.
Hypertext builds upon poststructuralist theories respecting
communication, authority, knowledge, and power as well as theories of
critical pedagogy. Liberating hypertext to realize its possibilities
for emergent learning requires many things. Here, we only strive to
free it from the bounds of traditional metaphysics with its assumptions
of fixedness and finality. That means freeing how we use computers in
education following traditional theories of curriculum and
instructional design, all of which have structuralist assumptions about
objectives, standards, and the ultimate aims of education. If we are
right, hypertext embodies ideas that point the way toward new
educational vistas.
We begin with a brief definition of hypertext. Next, we discuss Jay L.
Lemke’s rejection of traditional educational systems as inadequate for
releasing the potential of hypertext. We think Lemke constitutes a good
beginning, but hypertext owes a great deal to poststructuralist
semiotics, particularly the work of Barthes, Derrida, and Foucault.
Therefore, any critique of traditional theories of curriculum and
instructional design adequate to releasing the potential of hypertext
must expose their structuralist assumptions. These assumptions include
a commitment to ultimate foundations, supposedly eternal, fixed, and
final essences, and the idea that any activity, including the activity
of learning, has a perfect telos (e.g., the actualization of the
child’s potential for rationality).
We have two surprising allies in deconstructing the structuralist
assumptions of conventional curriculum and instructional design. One is
Herbert M. Kliebard’s (1970/1979) critique of the curriculum rationale
of Ralph Tyler’s objectives based theory of curriculum that dominates
educational thinking right up to today’s “standards” movement. Toward
the end of his critique, Kliebard turns to John Dewey for support.
Dewey is our second surprising ally, especially because it is not
difficult to show that his philosophy is poststructuralist (Garrison,
1999, 2001). Structuralism, including structuralist theories of
curriculum and instructional design, receives its strongest support
from a hidden source, the tradition of Western metaphysics. We show how
Dewey’s philosophy of education, including his critique of traditional
curriculum theory and instructional design, relies on his critique of
Western metaphysics.
Having come to grips with Dewey’s poststructuralism, we examine how
poststructuralist thought informs hypertext theory. We will place
special emphasis on George Landow’s vision of hypertext as a
poststructuralist space; Dewey provides an appropriate pedagogy for
such a space. Hypertext theories advocate enacting a more pluralistic
computer pedagogy than that currently endorsed by proponents of
traditional curriculum. Finally, poststructuralism provides a new, more
active, critical, and creative reading of texts that deconstruct
regimes of power in order to recognize how dominant metanarratives
script authoritarian theories of learning. Our goal is to disrupt
hierarchies of authority, power, and control in teaching and learning.
We hope our article will help to clear the ground for building a
poststructural pedagogy appropriate to the needs and possibilities of
hypertext and hypermedia
http://www.tcrecord.org/PrintContent.asp?ContentID=11140
---
Jason Barkeloo
President
TouchSmart Publishing
http://www.touchsmart.net
tele 513.225.8765
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