This article starts out sounding like a restatement of the standard David Noble refrain: that there is a great push toward integrating technology into education, and that the purpose of this is to turn education into a commodity. As I have CRLFobserved elsewhere, there is a point to this claim, but we should not confuse the use of technology with the drive to create a for-profit commercial education system. Before I could even formulate a response, though, the paper takes an abrupt turn. It first observes that these large online learning management systems are used to produce "traditional" education, seeking above all to make instructors "comfortable." The result is a process that makes as much sense as "using a jackhammer to insert a picture hanger into drywall." The authors suggest that the point of existing learning management systems is to realize an economist's vision, not an educator's vision, and suggest that current educational technology might be an appropriate target for technological CRLFculture jamming. The authors call for a new approach to technology in education, one in which we examine our tools more closely and learn how they might be used for educational purposes (as opposed to mere economic gain), to "serve the aims of developing and supporting a critical, informed and responsible global citizenry." So while I found myself at first critical of this article, I find myself, at its conclusion, applauding.
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