Selber, Technology, and Constructivism

Although there were several aspects of Selber’s final chapter (“Systematic Requirements for Change”) that I found intriguing, his section on curricular requirements was of particular interest to me. More specifically, Selber mentions the “…wide array of informal channels students use in order to learn about computers” (211), and the examples he provides (i.e. roommates, other students in various courses, discussion forms, and simple trial-and-error experiences) effectively demonstrate that technological knowledge is of a constructivist nature (a veritable hodge-podge of individual and socially assembled information, if you will) primarily because (for example) the knowledge gained from a classroom and a friend are equally valued. Such an observation seems obvious enough (particularly after having been immersed in theories of constructivism since entering graduate school), but for some reason I never quite made the connection that how I utilize and interact with technology is derivative of (say) what my father taught me on a Commodore 64, or the cheat codes I learned from friends playing video games, or (perhaps most important) what I have learned from students – one example being last semester when I required students to make an online portfolio and I had no idea how to help those with Mac’s (fortunately, the more technologically savvy students helped those that had less knowledge of the web design program they were using – including myself). I think my apparent oversight of constructivism in technology stems from (as Selber describes) technology being viewed as something to be use and not something to be questioned or analyzed (aside from perhaps data analysis). Nevertheless, this book provided me with a bit of an “ah-ha” moment.