Educational Technology: From Educational Anarchism to Educational Totalitarianism

Abstract

In the paper, the authors explore the relations between educational technology and educational ideology through the lens of philosophical inquiry. The optics of critical analysis is applied to review the instructional tools, services and systems which compose the complex picture of contemporary educational technology. The authors claim that even when initially established in the ideological domain of educational anarchism most educational technologies when being applied systemically can end up on the more oppressive side of the ideological spectrum close to educational totalitarianism. They focus on the risks of technology that are growing with the social change brought by the lifelong learning paradigm in education.