Diffusion of Technology in Higher Education Classrooms

Abstract

Technology use is contextual and tends to follow, often invisible, ground rules. Within the situational context of a higher education classroom the rules and sanctions regarding technology use become increasingly complex. Many universities in the United States now require that all incoming students have laptops, with the rationale being that technology is an important tool used to help students organize and catalogue knowledge. Laptops allow students to connect to library and campus resources. Further, requiring laptops on a networked campus creates a sense of digital unity rather than digital divides among students and faculty. The message to students is that personal laptops are important and even required. However, within the context of the higher education classroom, laptop use is often being limited or banned by classroom instructors, a contradiction of the larger university message. As Marcuse (1982) noted, technology is a social process. The diffusion of laptop technology into higher education has altered the modes of producing knowledge and the social relationships organized around that production process. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight how the use of this technology is negotiated between faculty and students and how issues of engagement, the self-production of knowledge, and security influence this negotiation. The authors argue that issues of laptop use in the classroom are rooted in concerns of power, legitimacy, and identity associated with the production of knowledge.