Technology, progressivism, inclusivity: learning to be a ‘good teacher’ in the contemporary university

Abstract

This paper questions some of the dominant assumptions about the relationship between technological proficiency and what counts as good practice within the university setting. That is, it is now widely regarded as impossible for academics to educate their students without using inclusive and dialogical methods of instruction. In the modern university, this is often measured by an effective use of technology. However, this paper argues, first, that progressive education emerged, not as an inevitable pedagogic advancement, but rather as an historical contingency; second, that progressive education is itself premised upon a number of domain assumptions about the nature of identity which have been challenged within the wider domain of social and cultural theory; third, that the new valorised practices of progressive education depend upon the old derogated practices, but this reliance is downplayed or disregarded. Thus, it is argued that the use of progressive education, in particular with its new-found technological component, is as much an issue of professional ethics as it is of pedagogy.