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Edited by Dr. Lynne Schrum, University of Utah
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| formerly Journal of Research on Computing in
Education |
Volume 36 Number 3
Spring 2004
Expectations of Technology: When the Intensive Application
of IT in Teaching Becomes a Possibility
Helle Mathiasen
University of Aarhus, Denmark
Abstract
This article presents a preliminary analysis of the
political and educational systems as regards their respective
expectations of information technology and teachers’ and students’ use
of personal laptop computers in high school, where they are regarded as
two differentiated social functional systems. The theoretical basis is
inspired by the German sociologist and system theorist Niklas Luhmann,
and this analysis is rooted in the concept of systems, where the central
concepts are learning and teaching. Thus in theory it is a question of
operationalising Luhmann’s cognitive and communicative theories and his
theory of social systems, focusing on the two mutually dependent
concepts of learning and teaching, or in other words, the concepts of
the construction of evidence and the specialised form of communication
known as teaching.
Assumptions regarding new technology have not been met to the degree
expected. The present empirical study demonstrated that the concept
“revolution,” used by the political system, cannot be used in this
context.
The empirical study was carried out on the basis of a
system—theoretically inspired consecutive research design (19982001).
The subject field is a Danish high school, where teachers and students
(10 teachers and 22 students) participated in the consecutive research
project and were observed by the researcher throughout the three year
course of a Danish high school. The article concludes that the
educational framework, learning environments and teacher training need
rethinking.
Contributors
Helle Mathiasen is an associate professor at the University of
Aarhus, Denmark.
Contact
Helle Mathiasen
University of Aarhus
The
Faculty of Arts
Department of Information and Media
Studies
Helsingforsgade 14
DK 8200 Århus N
Denmark
hema@imv.au.dk
A PDF file of the full article is available. Contact: jrte@iste.org.
Please specifiy Volume and Issue number and article name.
Copyright © 2004, ISTE (International Society for Technology
in Education).
All rights reserved.
| learning, teaching, the educational system, information technology, communication |
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