July 12, 2006
NEXT YASMIN HOT TOPIC:
EDUCATIONAL ISSUES AROUND MEDITERRANEAN RIM
"One of the questions that comes to mind is the difference between teaching in a context where new media technologies are being invented and developed, as compared to teaching in a context where there are few local R and D or technology development companies or laboratories; i.e. how do you teach in a context that consumes inventions basically developed elsewhere?
Scientists and engineers like to say that science and technology are "neutral" but of course the use of science and technology are socially embedded. Not only is access to science and technology an issue in many places, but the agenda for new science and technology is often set in places very distant to address priorities that are different from local priorities.
For instance the way that the computer game and mobile phone industries are now setting the research agendas is not driven by local needs but by global market share, and only the open source and other movements are addressing other research agendas. An important idea for me is that the direction that science and technology is not some inevitable process; it is a process that is driven by a combination of the dreams of inventors and their access to funding to develop their ideas.
And here we have to ackowledge that a language is a not a neutral context;
if you choose to teach in a non english language, do you have access to the teaching materials you need? What language do you teach new media in and how does this contextualise what can and cannot be taught?" Roger Malina, YASMIN
Posted by jo at July 12, 2006 10:02 AM
