Education, Technology, and the Social Construction of My Learning Spaces
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EDUCATION, TECHNOLOGY, AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF MY LEARNING SPACES by Mr. Bhuvinder Singh Vaid B.A., University of British Columbia, 2002 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS In the Faculty of Education © Bhuvinder Singh Vaid 2008 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2008 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. 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The author retains copyright L’auteur conserve la propriété du droit d’auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author’s permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privée, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont été enlevés de thesis. cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n’y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. APPROVAL Name: Bhuvinder Singh Vaid Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: EDUCATION, TECHNOLOGY, AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF MY LEARNING SPACES. Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Allan MacKinnon Associate Professor, Faculty of Education Dr. Charles Bingham Senior Supervisor Associate Professor, Faculty of Education Dr. Heesoon Bai Supervisor Associate Professor, Faculty of Education Dr. Michael Ling Internal Examiner Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education Date Defended: July 17, 2008 ______________________ ii SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Declaration of Partial Copyright Licence The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection (currently available to the public at the "Institutional Repository" link of the SFU Library website <www.lib.sfu.ca> at: <http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/112>) and, without changing the content, to translate the thesis/project or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author's written permission. Permission for public performance, or Iimited permission for private scholarly use, of any multimedia materials forming part of this work, may have been granted by the author. This information may be found on the separately catalogued multimedia material and in the signed Partial Copyright Licence. While licensing SFU to permit the above uses, the author retains copyright in the thesis, project or extended essays, including the right to change the work for subsequent purposes, including editing and publishing the work in whole or in part, and licensing other parties, as the author may desire. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, BC, Canada Revised: Fall2007 ABSTRACT This thesis is primarily concerned with teaching and learning relationships, in particular the social construction of the student-teacher, student-student, and student-self relationships within the context of technology and education. The exploration of these relationships forms the theoretical arc throughout this thesis, as the author presents differing definitions of technology as it relates to education. While the overall context of the work presented in this thesis, which is a collection of writings from different periods of the author’s MA, falls within the paradigm of education and technology, the journey presented here is important to understanding how these teaching and learning relationships relate to the learning spaces within which they enact, representing the next phase of scholarship the author intends to undertake. Keywords: education; technology; learning spaces; learning relationships; self-reflection iii DEDICATION For Christopher Dryvynsyde My teacher. My friend. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This folio of some of the writing I have undertaken during the course of my MA would never have seen to light of day without the support, encouragement, and most notably, friendship, of my supervisor Dr. Charles Bingham. Throughout much of my musings in the early part of my MA, I often felt that many of my ideas did not warrant discussion or acknowledgement due to their tepid reception by my peers and instructors. When I met Charles for the first time, his excitement, for my ideas, gave me a confidence to continue writing and share my ideas with others – Charles I am in your debt. I would also like to thank the faculty and staff of the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University, for their patience, guidance, and support. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the staff of the Graduate Programs office for their tireless work on behalf of all graduate students in education, and Shirley Heap for her tireless work on my behalf. Dr. Heesoon Bai and Dr. Michael Ling have helped me better understand the scope of this thesis and how it is very much a part of the person I am today, through their thorough reading and even more thorough questioning of this writing and my underlying beliefs during the oral examination. My colleagues Lisa Sinkie and Fiona MacKellar have always been there to encourage and support my ideas, pushing me to continue developing them with a confidence that emerges out of the encouragement of colleagues you respect. v My friends Jolanta Garus and Sandra (Jackson) Teves, who have been with me since I first chose to pursue graduate studies, for their countless hours of counsel. Finally, I would like to thank my brothers Kuljeet and Moninder for the example they set for me when they worked on their own master’s theses. I have never known two harder working people committed to their own intellectual passions, and I only hope that I can follow your example in my future endeavours. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval.............................................................................................................. ii Abstract.............................................................................................................. iii Dedication .......................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements............................................................................................ v Table of Contents ............................................................................................. vii List of Figures.................................................................................................... ix List of Tables ...................................................................................................... x Chapter 1: Introduction...................................................................................... 1 Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Phase One: a review of the existing scholarship in the field of education and technology (chapters 2, 3 and 4) ............................. 4 Phase Two: technology through a Critical Theory lens – and education’s response (chapters 5 and 6) ........................................ 7 Phase Three: technology as authority and discipline in education (chapter 7) ...................................................................................... 9 Conclusion and future scholarly