Ruminations on our relationship with technology
“Technology education aims at students’ learning about what technology helps us to do and what it hinders us from doing; it is about how technology uses us, for good or ill, and about how it has used people in the past, for good or ill. It is about how technology creates new worlds, for good or ill.”
– Neil Postman, The End of Education, p 191-192.
Educational topics look at how technologies shape the way we think or process information. Granted, “technology” is a broad term. For instance, it may refer to tools, machines, or media. Likewise, “mind” doesn’t refer to one thing. Rather, it implies a bundle of mental functions or processes (a.k.a. ‘modules’), which give rise to varied perceptions and thoughts.
So, one way to understand how technologies affect our minds is to ask: What types of tools, machines, or media work best for what kinds of thinking? Educational topics that may help answer this question include media ecology, cognitive science (including artificial intelligence, or AI), and functional literacy. To explore ideas from these topics, select any of the articles below.
Do chatbots help students learn? Many teachers are aware of the disruption that large language models (LLMs), the technology behind chatbots, have brought to education. There are obvious concerns about cheating and plagiarism, as well as a pedagogical worry about using LLMs to do schoolwork. If teachers allow classes to use LLMs for tests and … Read more
Will GenAI chatbots lead to genius or superintelligent AI? Conversations with generative AI (GenAI) chatbots are becoming more commonplace. Many of these bots are sounding more human. Some may even seem pretty intelligent. Hence, there’s speculation that this technology might lead to a kind of genius or superintelligent AI. Of course, what counts as ‘genius’ … Read more
Why do some chatbots turn into sycophants? One of the most valuable contributions from the media ecology tradition is that technologies are extensions of human capabilities, such as our sense perceptions or thought processes. For example, screens and speakers extend our capacity to see and hear. Algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) extend our ability to … Read more
Every technology entails a Faustian bargain! Ever since I learned about Neil Postman years ago, I’ve found myself continually coming back to his writings and insights. The founder of media ecology, Postman remains one of my main influences when it comes to thinking about technology. For me, one of his most perceptive observations is that … Read more
Marshall McLuhan’s speculations on post-literate technology Marshall McLuhan was well known for his almost prophetic speculations about technology, culture, and literacy. In the book The Gutenberg Galaxy, he thought about how newer forms of multimedia would affect traditional modes of literacy. At times, he described this interaction as being “caught between the Scylla of a … Read more
What’s zero shot learning performance in AI? Zero-shot learning performance in artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive automation is getting more scrutiny. So, I thought I’d take time to look at what zero-shot learning is, as well as review research on it. To understand zero-shot learning, however, we have to understand machine learning in AI. Machine … Read more
Yes, bots can imitate language – but no, they don’t understand what they’re saying Every technological revolution seems to bring its own hype, and the boom of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is no exception. There’s no shortage of hype, for instance, about large language models (LLMs), the technology behind chatbots and voice assistants. This technology … Read more
VR schools: the future of education? If you’re a parent, teacher, or student, you may have noticed that the implementation of virtual reality (VR) in schools has gained ground lately. In fact, there are now VR schools in elementary education that are entirely online. For many people concerned about the future of education and literacy, … Read more
Is generative AI going through a hype cycle? Technological innovation often goes through what’s called a hype cycle. Represented graphically, there’s a peak of inflated expectations about some supposedly revolutionary technology, followed by a trough of disillusionment. Then, there’s a gradual slope of enlightenment, or understanding what the technology realistically can and can’t do. Finally, … Read more