Epistemology, Learning and Educational Technology

SUMMARY

It is currently popular to categorize frameworks for the understanding and interpretation of educational concerns into epistemologies associated with positivism, interpretive understanding and critical theory. In this paper, each of these is considered in turn, and some observations are made concerning views of learning and uses of educational technology engendered by each framework. Positivism is criticized for its essentially limited and instrumental view of education, and both positivism and interpretive understandings for their neutral stances on the normative and value positions intrinsic in educational endeavours. Critical theory, while having its own epistemological and practical problems, is held to represent interesting possibilities for gauging progressive educational practice and concomitant uses for educational technology.