Technology and the Educational Rationale (W6)

I took a look at the readings for this week and my curiosity piqued at the last article listed. "It's not just the tool but the educational rationale that counts" by Gavriel Salomon (2016) had me glued to my screen. I think it was written earlier than 2016, though I could be wrong. Unfortunately, Salomon passed in 2016 so I was not able to find any direct follow up to the article. I really wish I could pick his brain about technology and education now!

Salomon’s words still ring true years later. Technology is constantly being pushed on university campuses, but is it for the right reasons? AI is the boom right now, but what outcomes are we using to measure it with? Are we still chasing traditional benchmarks, or are we thinking about how learning itself is changing? Do we want college graduates to be able to access information or possess knowledge?

Higher education has largely followed the rest of society in adopting technology, fast and sometimes not thinking it through. Just like commerce, medicine, or transportation, colleges and universities have embraced digital tools. However, education can’t afford to be a passive follower. The stakes are different. We’re not just delivering products, we’re shaping minds, values, and capabilities. If we let technology set the agenda without asking why we’re using it, we risk losing sight of our core purpose. I think that's something all of us know and agree on but forget easily. One student will mention these things during a class, everyone will agree and maybe there's a discussion, but then everyone goes back to whatever they were doing.

I’m left wondering how we can build stronger habits of accountability. How do we keep these conversations going after the class ends, after the meeting is over, after the new tech demo concludes? Salomon’s essay is a wake-up call. We should not reject technology, but treat it with the seriousness it deserves.

We don’t need more tools; we need vision. It starts with us refusing to be passive users of technology.

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