Understanding the nature of accountability failure in a technology‐filled, laissez‐faire classroom: disaffected students and teachers who give in

Abstract

This paper discusses how the curriculum is shaped by the situational logic of a technology‐filled classroom, and how this logic is under the influence of ideas about student–teacher interactions and ‘do‐it‐yourself learning’. It analyses case material from a school using game theory. Free access in the classroom to the Internet, games, and chatting makes it difficult for the teacher to control the students' operations. When a student deems a threat to be empty, it is not rational for that student to allow the threat to influence his or her own actions. The laissez‐faire regime is a result of rational considerations made by both parties. However, when students do not assume responsibility for learning, an accountability failure arises as a rational response to the design of the institutional framework.