Are we yet cyborgs? University students and the practical consequences of human-machine subjectivity

Abstract

In this paper I propose, on the basis of my experiences in teaching a WWW-assisted unit on critical thinking, that we need to employ two critical fictions (“the cyborg” and “the consensual hallucination” of cyberspace) to understand the ways in which the WWW might operate for effective teaching and learning. My aim is to provide, not a new direction, nor a new set of “criteria” by which we can judge “successful” higher education Web design, but to paint a critical paradigm of subjectivity within which designers and teachers and even students can click into new evaluative and development modes, as easily as they now — apparently — can click into the Web itself.