Connecting Critical Theory of Technology to Educational Studies

Abstract

In this article, I explore how transformative learning theory, an approach to educating drawn from adult education, can be used to provide access to the critical theory of technology for educators. Rather than focusing primarily on K–12 teachers and educational systems or higher education and other postsecondary instruction, I connect learning as a human capacity with the critical approach to technology. Beginning with a discussion of assumptions and how they structure our ability to make meaning within two common perspectives on technology, instrumentalism and substantivism, an overview of the basic framework of the critical theory of technology is shared and situated among the assumptions made by current perspectives toward technology. Transformative learning theory is then presented as a possible connective thread that could be used to assist educational researchers and practitioners embrace a more critical approach to technology in education.