Michele Brannon-Hamilton's Blog

While working on my final essay about blended learning classrooms, I am drawn back to the sociology module and how technology affects students and teachers in a classroom. In fact, sociologists remind us that nothing happens in isolation because one thing always affects another.

In Kerr’s Toward a Sociology of Educational Technology, Kerr points out that “technology changes constantly” and that today, “internet connectivity” is important. In the 1990s, online learning became important partially because the internet and online education “became more affordable” (p.113). As a sociology undergrad, I was taught to look at the effect of one element on another because nothing happens in isolation. Therefore, I understand how technology can affect more than just the people who use it. For example, even though technology will benefit some people because of its affordability, there are still those who cannot afford it. This leads to what is commonly called the “digital divide” or the inequality that results from the gap between those who have and those who do not (p.113).

Sociologists also encourage us to look at how technology might affect the various areas of society. Can it be used to fix “social problems” or will it lead to new ones (p.113)? As Kerr points out, technology may “[affect more] areas other than those intended by its creators” (p.113). This idea reminds me of the far reaching effects of throwing a stone into the water and watch as the ripples move outward away from the source.

Overall, sociology is important to the study of educational technology because it shows us how to evaluate the effects of technology on individual people, classrooms, institutions, and society as a whole.

Kerr, S.T. (2004). Toward a sociology of educational technology. In D.H. Jonassen (Ed.), Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (pp. 113-142). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.