In this engaging volume, Jon Dron views education, learning, and teaching through a technological lens that focuses on the parts we play in technologies, from language and pedagogies to computers and regulations. He proposes a new theory of education whereby individuals are not just users but co-participants in technologies-technologies that are intrinsic parts of our cognition, of which we form intrinsic parts, through which we are entangled with one another and the world around us. Dron reframes popular families of educational theory (objectivist, subjectivist, and complexivist) and explains a variety of educational phenomena, including the failure of learning style theories, the nature of literacies, systemic weaknesses in learning management systems, the prevalence of cheating in educational institutions, and the fundamental differences between online and in-person learning. Ultimately, “How Education Works” articulates how practitioners in education can usefully understand technology, education, and their relationship to improve teaching practice.
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Introduction
Preamble: Elephant Spotting
1. A Handful of Anecdotes about Elephants
2. A Handful of Observations about Elephants
Part I: All about Technology
3. Organizing Stuff to Do Stuff
4. How Technologies Work
5. Participation and Technique
Part II: Education as a Technological Phenomenon
6. A Co-Participation Model of Teaching
7. Theories of Teaching
8. Technique, Expertise, and Literacy
Part III: Applying the Co-Participation Model
9. Revealing Elephants
10. How Education Works
Epilogue
References In this absorbing volume, Jon Dron views education, learning, and teaching through a technological lens. Focusing on the parts we play in technologies-from language and pedagogies to computers and regulations-Dron posits that individuals are not just users but technical coparticipants. An engaging proposal for a new theory of education, diagraming how humans and technology can maximize learning for students.
