The plank in the eye: New Media Communication, the school, and the brokenness of Information Technology

Fernando Flores Morador, Lund University, May 7th 2012.

"And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye-to-eye when you have a log in your own? Luke 6: 39-42. Why do you look at the speck in your brothers eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Matthew 7:1 -5.

bstract

The impact of New Media Communication has been possible because the development of the technologies of computation, especially after the rise of the personal computer as an everyday technology accessible to a large part of the middle class population. This New Media got the name of ICT (Information and Communication Technology). The personal computer is present today in a very large amount of the homes of the middle classes, in their working places, in their schools and universities. With the e. g. mobile phone, which has incorporated the technologies of digital computation, the social and cultural impact has been more significant than the visible change of the physical supports to communication. The mobile phone has created new communication paths in society, revolutionizing our perception of approachability and remoteness. However, the massive introduction of the ICT in everyday life does produce problems too, which are also are new. Many of these new problems are associated to the physical character of these artefacts because they affected negatively some aspects of the interpersonal relations. Paradoxically, the ICT: s has empowered the possibilities of distance communication between persons but simultaneously has slowed down the communications possibilities of direct communication. Of course, digital communication can be performed in real time but the mediation of a digital media converts the Other-ofcommunication into a non-present person (in the spatial meaning of the term present). In the actual situation the computer and the mobile phone obstruct the eye-to-eye contactwhich could be called profound communicationcharacteristic of existential presence. In my paper I will argue that during distance communication the ICT acts as a plenty technology while they act as a broken technology that is as a plank in the eye in presential communication.1 I will introduce and discuss in which manner the computer and the mobile phone provoke problems in a school environment some technical, other didactical and other ontologicaltrying to provide preliminary solutions to these problems through concrete
I developed the concept of brokenness in my book Broken Technologies; the Humanist as an Engineer . Lund University; 2008.
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examples.

The problem
The impact of new media was possible because of the development of computer technologies, especially when these technologies that took the form of the personal computer (one-man-one -computer). This device is present today in a significant number of homes, workplaces, schools and universities. Its impact is much greater than a simple support for communication, having actually imposed new forms of communication in time and space, especially since it was combined with communication networks and more recently with the cell phone. This combination is called ICT (Information and Communication Technology). The massive introduction of new media in everyday life also brings new problems, many associated with the physical character of the new artefacts, which have a strong presence in interpersonal relations. We note that while ICT has clearly improved distance communications between people, it has hampered the deep communication based on eye-to-eye-contact. In presential communication, face-to-face contact is essential; this direct contact is broken by the mediation of the computer and the cell phone which acts as physical barriers. We say that while in remote communicative situation the ICTs act as whole-technologies improving communication, in faceto-face communication they act (often, not always) as broken-technologies or as a plank in the eye impeding full communication. In all cases in which computers and cell phones are used to mediate face-to-face communication (such as in school), we find this kind of technological brokenness against which we need to develop appropriate corrective strategies. The massive introduction of computers in schools, create a situation of collective stress with technological brokenness in different levels. This stress was documented in a study of the use of ICT in schools in Norway, Finland and Denmark. From this study, become clear that the teachers feel frustrated about the mandatory use of ICT in class. ICT-using teachers in all three countries are using ICT in their practice just in confined periods of time and not on a daily basis. This is contrary to the policy statements and goals of all three countries and serves as a reminder of the complexity of the reforms schools are facing. As an example, the greatest novelty by far in the Norwegian reform for knowledge promotion is the inclusion of use of ICT as a basic skill. This inclusion seems to put stress on teachers and school leaders as they now are responsible for the students training in this new field. However, as Erstad and Quale (2009) stated, they are (. . .) faced with a frustrating dilemma: they are required by statute to use ICT extensively in their practice, but no one tells them how they should do this (p. 565). The apparent drop from a prevalence of innovative 21st century visions to a relative lack of 21st century practices could be interpreted as corroborative of the existence of this dilemma.2

Ottestad, G. Innovative pedagogical practice with ICT in three Nordic countries differences and similarities. Norwegian Centre for ICT in Education, Vika, NO-0112 Oslo, Norway. Blackwell Publishing Ltd Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2010), 26, 478491. (Citat, p sidan 489).
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This article then is devoted to the study of some typical cases of technological brokenness regarding the use of ICT in education. Our methodology will be applied to the phenomenology of case studies.

Research Overview
It is possible to find an unlimited number of studies about the impact of ICT in school. Most of these studies are devoted to encouraging the use of ICT in school and barely mention the difficulties. Most of these studies are entertained on technical aspects such as the most appropriate use of certain educational programs. We could say that this group of studies is devoted to the propaedeutic of ICT in school. A major international study conducted in 2006 by Werner B. Korte and Tobias Hsing, made an evaluation of the acceptance of ICT in schools in 27 European countries. One of their conclusions for example is that in Sweden there are 17 computers per 100 students, 16.5 of which are connected to the Internet. This result, places Sweden in the sixth place of countries using computers in school, after Denmark, Norway, Holland, Luxembourg and Britain. The study also reveals that a significant number of European teachers are skeptical about the usefulness of computers in school: However, in some countries there are substantial minorities among teachers who deny that there is much of a pedagogical advantage of computer use in class. A fifth of European teachers believe that using computers in class does not have significant learning benefits for pupils. This holds true especially for Spain (52%), Sweden (48%) and Iceland (47%) followed by Hungary (33%), France (32%), Austria (28%) and Finland (27%). Scepticism about benefits is found to have little relation to the sophistication in use of ICT in schools: it is expressed by teachers in leading countries with regard to ICT use as well as in those countries lagging behind. 3

The use of ICT in education has been the subject of study of teachers teaching computer science. As an example, the studies of Jrgen Lindh (1993) and Stefan Hrastinski (2007). Lindh focuses on the application of ICT at the school, while Hrastinski studied the use of ICT in distance education. It is truth that the use of ICT in distance learning presents problems of a very different kind than the problems originated in presential learning, but the results of these studies can help us to understand these differences. Of course, if the object of the learning process is the computer itself, the plank in the eye-effect is reduced and the computer physical nature is not an only a medium but the goal of the communicative act as well. We found that both studies confirm the study by the Swedish National Council authorities although it shows an effort to minimize the negative aspects. It can be said that teachers of technical subjects are shown generally much more positive to the introduction of ICT in the school as they tend to strengthen their own disciplines. In Sweden there are also some historical studies that follow the process of
Korte, Werner B. and Hsing, Tobias. Benchmarking Access and Use of ICT in European Schools 2006: Results from Head Teacher and A Classroom Teacher Surveys in 27 European Countries. eLearning Papers www.elearningpapers.eu 1Vol 2, N 1 January 2007 ISSN 1887 -1542.
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introduction of ICT in Swedish society and especially in school. This is the case of the book written by the historian of ideas Thomas Karlsohn (2009). The title of book in Swedish (no translation of the work) is Technical Rhetoric and Criticism. About the ICT bubble and the introduction of computers in the Swedish school. At the end of his book, Karlsohn writes his conclusions (my translation): From the standpoint of the teacher, teaching practice involves some emotional attachment to specific modes of behavior that are critical to the introduction of ICT in school. The compromise of teacher to his/her profession leads to a praxis according to which everything that does not enrich the pedagogical practice tends to be neglected (Karlsohn, Thomas 2009: 359). Summarizing, it can be said that the problems attached to the use of ICT in school is not new and has been present from the first moment of the introduction of the computer in the classroom. The current studies show that the introduction of ICT in schools has created new pedagogical problems that need to find new solutions. However, at the present time, none of the existing studies gives a convincing explanation of the reasons for the stress created in the classroom. The general attitude of authorities and scholars is the confidence that the solutions will be found spontaneously, by the daily use of the computers in class.

The computer and "face to face" communication

We take as a starting point for our study that the relationship between students and teachers at school, just as it has developed historically, is based on the presence of both in the same space and time. We further assume that this kind of deep communication is established by face-to-face or eye-to-eye contact. The school is a privileged space for this deep existential communication, because all the involved parts of the communicative act are physically present in real time. Based on these premises I do not think that it is possible to defend the idea that the computer in class, serves the same function that the pencil and the paper had served before. I believe that these technologiesnow completely integrated into school activitiesare radically different. While the pencil and paper are instruments working besides the eye-to-eye communicative activity, the computer is mediating it. The relative simplicity of the pencil and paper technologies, disturb the eye-to-eye communication only superficially. At the other hand, the incidence of the computer is massive; it demands the focusing of the eyes on the screen for hours with the consequent loss of communication between the teacher and the students. The technical complexity of the computer also creates a second level of communicative problems. For the most of the teachers, the mechanics of the computer is outside the range of their knowledge. As such, it is perceived as an opaque box demanding expert knowledge to understand their function. Some eventual malfunction of the computer becomes an obstacle to the teacher who needs the assistance of a new actor at school: the technician. The complexity of the technology of the computer cannot be reached by the traditional concierge, a man skilled to change lamps, repairing chairs, lubricate locks and other technical simple tasks. The computer expert knows how the opaque box works and can solve the most of the possible malfunctions at the classroom. Hubert Dreyfus defines the technician expert as the person who has developed an embodied knowledge in direct contact with other experts and through a concrete praxis. The

expert is also marked by the incapability to transmit into words their experience and can only show what he can do never explain it. The ratio of its technical expertise is of an intuitive character and it is not capable of any teaching activity. The expert is not a teacher and can in no case act as such. Given this fact, there is no communication between the technician and the teacher because the differences between their communicative skills. The relationship between students, teachers and technicians deserve a detailed study that just has been started. It is the study of conflicts between different existential worlds generated by the development of new technologies of information processing. The study of this interaction suppose among other things: A detailed study of the relationship between teaching and technical implementations which implies a study of the existential communication between the worlds of the teacher and the world of the computer expert. A detailed study of the existential world of students in relation to the world of the teacher in relation to digital culture. I think the gap between these two worlds has never been as large as the present day. The new social media have become the generator of cognitive behaviors that not always are compatible with traditional methods of classroom teaching. The new social media, question the authority of the school especially in terms of timeliness and relevance of the handled information.

The relationship between the lifeworld of teacher and the lifeworld of the computer expert
Because the increasingly simplification of computer technology, after some time of practice, the user of computers in general act as an expert in some areas of technical application. It is as to drive a car; everybody can be an expert in driving without knowing the mechanics of the automobile. In this sense, the distance between the expert and the user, tends to disappear in some application areas. In the same way as the computer becomes part of everyday life of the great majorities, the basic skills are also socialized promoting as a consequence the development of the figure of a self-taught user-expert. The autodidactic nature of this new social actor creates the illusion of expertise that is characteristic for the school-technician. If modernity imposed the technician, postmodernity imposes on the autodidact expert, leading a technical level that varies from individual to individual. The self-taught nature of contemporary society is summarized in the phrase Do it yourself which attributes the roles of expert and user to the same person. But the selftaught expert is not an expert; the self-knowledge is knowledge of an amateur, which is no less paradoxical if we think that the digital product industry is built on sophisticated knowledge and of the enthusiasm of computer nerds. Another interesting aspect to be noticed, is that the technician is almost always a young male, which actualize the issue of gender balance in technological participation, especially in schools there the formation of children is connected to the structure of the future society. In terms of technical knowledge, the teacher is no different from any other ordinary user of the media. The teacher and the student (the users) are related to the Otherthe recipient of the activitythrough the digital media that they are learn to use intuitively. What we have then, is

three different social groups whit three different areas of responsibility connected through a digital media that they know more or less intuitively. However, the teacher is not an autodidact as a teacher. And the students at school are not there to be autodidacts. The informal character of the relationship between teacher, technician and students is questioning the professional character of teaching. The only solution to this situation is substituting the amateur-technician for a professional. However, this new professional must be trained in pedagogical questions as well. In short, the solution of the problem is the creation of a new kind of teacher, the technician-pedagogue that can mediate between the technical world and the teachers world at school.

ICT and the learning process at school

Due to the ongoing development of ICT, the worlds of the user (the teacher) and the expert overlap. However, nobody cares about this new overlapping area, and because this indifferent attitude, the overlapping of roles generates more conflicts than possibilities. When the teacher is working face-to-face with the student and tries to use the computer as a mediator he/she often prevents communication rather than encourage it. This can take different forms and requires different solutions: 1. The implementation of technical processes in conflict with the educational objectives. For example, downloading a text, picture, or a computer program can demand an unacceptable time which varies depending on the technical knowledge of students and teachers and the general state of the machines. This situation is the primary source of the distraction of the students suddenly working with tasks unrelated to the issue of class. This situation can only be solved with a previous intense preparation for the class in full collaboration between the teacher and the technician. 2. In certain circumstances, the conduct of an exercise requires certain technical processes that have nothing to do with the exercise to be applied. Here the teacher becomes a teacher of computer science (a technician). These conditions reflect the entry of a new learning core subject in school: computer science, a discipline in which all teachers need to be prepared in the same way that today are educated in mathematics and history. This must happen in collaboration with the technician for the purpose of developing curricula. 3. The frequent use of social media accessible over the Internet, can lead the students to believe that the management of training and study are the same thing. This conviction arises from the autodidactic relationship between the new media and the actors in school. The discourse of the teacher must be distinguished from the pure recovery of information, developing hermeneutic exercises that reveal the simplicity and superficiality of pure information.

4. The use of Internet and computer in general, tends to create a parallel virtual world, which is real but in varying degree. This virtual world must be anchored in the everyday world of the school. The school can and should act to create the required foundation. Teaching should be

internalized, the virtual world should be incorporated into the students own life as part of the complexity of the society in which we live.

The "program of the classroom" and the phenomena of "brokenness"

I will call the curriculum that includes the use of computers in class the program of the classroom. If the program of the classroom is appropriate to its purpose, the machines will act as amplifiers of communication and learning. In such circumstances, the machines will disappear into the background and communication may be face-to-face. It is important then to identify the cases in which the face-to-face communication is broken. I will use with modification a scheme developed by Jrgen Lindh. 1) At the basic level are the machines, updating them is an almost daily task that only the technician can perform. This task is essential and must be developed independently and outside of class time. 2) In the second level we found the operating system in their different versions, as Windows or Mac and Linux. The choice of the operating system determines later the choice of the pedagogical applications. This level requires the involvement of teachers and experts in collaboration and reaffirms the need for the creation of the technician-pedagogue.

Level 4: Classroom program (ensuring the gaze of teacher)

Level 3: Applications (ensuring the classroom program)

Level 2: Operating system (ensures the selection of applications)

Level 1: Machines (guaranteed levels 2, 3 and 4)

3) In the third level we found the concrete everyday directed applications as word processors, processors of arithmetic functions, programs for image processing, programs for sound processing, and so on. These applications decide the possibilities of the classroom program and should be chosen in connection to it. From this level the weight of the co-teacher starts to move to the expert and ends overcoming it. 4) Finally, the most complex level is the class program, the plan of the work at class according to which the use of computers will be carefully established. The classroom program must ensure appropriate working pace, so that the future of communication that students avoid stare into the machine and lose contact with the teachers eyes. Our study specifies four types of brokenness in the communication process in the classroom that could be summarized as follows:

Preliminary typology of the brokenness of the class program

Explanation The most common is that of the teacher who lacks a clear idea about what the program to be used in the class. In this case the classroom program is in a planning stage. Kind of brokenness

Brokenness at the level 4

Another case is that of a classroom program that uses applications that are either too simple or too complex in relation to the objectives set by the program of the classroom. The designers have made the wrong choice of applications.

Brokenness at the level 3

Another case is the lack of knowledge by the teacher about the possibilities of a machine and/or the operating system.

Brokenness at the levels 1and 2

The use of obsolete machines, obsolete operating systems or other obsolete applications.

Brokenness at the levels 1and 2 and 3

Literature
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