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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.
About the author
Jon Dron is a member of the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute and a professor in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Athabasca University. He has received both national and local awards for his teaching and is author/co-author of over 150 academic publications in the fields of education and technology. His eclectic academic background includes post-secondary qualifications in philosophy, information systems, higher education, and learning technologies.
