Reviewing and Expanding the Civics of Technology Curriculum
by Marie Heath and Dan Krutka
As university professors, we are required by our jobs to publish for the broader scholarly world. Most of our publications either consist of empirical studies, theoretical work, or practitioner articles. We always hope that these ideas reach scholars and teachers who might find them helpful for their writing or teaching.
In academia there is no requirement or expectation to publish the lessons and activities we develop for our classes. While some educators blog or post about their lessons, for the most part our lessons do not make their way outside of our classrooms.
With the Civics of Technology project, we wanted to make our praxis accessible and collaborative, creating space for educators to share and publish their lessons. We started by posting many of our own lessons on our Curriculum page with contributions from Jacob Pleasants, Cathryn van Kessel, Michelle Ciccone, Ryan Smits, Charles Logan, and others. Here’s an overview of what we’ve published so far:
Critical Questions about Technology. These 5 questions can be used to examine technologies of the past, present, and future from ecological and critical perspectives. We like these questions because they’re easy to assign one question to 5 small groups and then hold a whole class discussion about railroads, electricity, or TikTok without a lot of other planning needed.
Technology Education Introductory Activities. These four activities can be conducted together in a longer workshop or independently to spark technoskeptical thinking among students. The first two activities are pretty simple as they aim to (1) draw on prior knowledge and (2) provide examples of technological problems that generate interests in thinking critically about technology. Activity #3 asks students to participate in a “gallery walk” of critical educational technology quotes and then discuss them. Activity #4 asks students to participate in a Technology Reset Simulation where they must decide which technologies they must reconsider which technologies actually support a better world and should be kept and which do not and should be banned.
Unfolding a Smartphone curriculum: In this curriculum, students are encouraged to question whether newer technologies, as represented by the apps on their smartphones, are actually better than older versions of the technology. They will examine the clock app and technologies of time, the maps app and technologies of navigation and wayfinding, and communication apps (phone, messages, etc.) and technologies of communication. For older and newer technologies, students try to answer three questions: What are the benefits of the technology? What are the drawbacks of the technology? How does the technology affect the flow of our lives?
Mapping the Media Education Terrain: These 5 approaches to media education encourage a more well rounded media education that includes often neglected approaches such as figure/ground analysis of media ecology and critical media literacy to identify who has the power to spread messages and normalize identities.
Technoethical Integration: This 4-step approach encourages technoskeptical thinking and technological audits to answer the question, is it ethical to use this technology? The four steps include (1) spurring dystopian imaginings by creating “Black Mirror”-like stories that recognize how technologies can be harmful; (2) identify which edtech we want to use instead of passively taking what is handed to us; (3) conduct an edtech audit that focuses on a wide array of concerns or focuses more narrowly on discriminatory design; and (4) choose integration approaches that help think through the roles of students in using technology. This approach is particularly recommended for educational technology courses.
Critical Digital Citizenship: This page exposes shortcomings of traditional digital “citizenship” curriculum. Viewing youth-produced documentaries from the the Young People's Race, Power, and Technology (YPRPT) Project help students and teachers imagine critical digital citizenship for just futures.
Inquiry Design Model (IDM) Lessons: These 3-5 day IDM lessons ask students to debate a compelling question, examine sources, and take informed action to address social problems concerning technology. Our IDMs ask questions such as: Should we be more like the Luddites? and Whose interests do “teaching machines” serve?
As educators, we can feel constrained by the official curriculum. The expectations of mandated K-12 curriculum objectives, and even the learning requirements of certain higher ed courses, make demands on instructional time and educator labor. Often we ask questions like, When can I teach this? How much time will it take? Can I teach this lesson over time? Is this a lesson plan, or a recurring approach? We recognize these limits while also remaining committed to the work of teaching about technology and its relationships to society, democracy, and justice across grades and disciplines.
To that end, we’ve developed the resources to be adapted and modified for context and timing. For example, the Five Critical Questions can be taught individually as brief activities depending upon the technology under study, or they could be taught together in one longer lesson. Further, once the questions are introduced, they might become a recurring approach that students turn to as they examine different technologies throughout the class. In a social studies course, students may ask these questions of technologies taught across the curriculum (e.g., railroads, canals, medical interventions, weapons, mass media).
Our hope is that the Civics of Technology curriculum offers practical resources in ways that work in your classes. Please share with us if and how you are using the resources. If you are not using the resources, please let us know what we can do to make them more useful for you! If you are using the resources, please share benefits, drawbacks, and lessons learned.
Finally, we invite you to share the resources that you use, so that other educators might use or adapt for their classrooms. A well designed activity or lesson may do more to encourage transformational change around how we think about and use technology in and outside of schools than some of our publications that sit behind journal paywalls. Consider publishing your lessons with us so we might learn from you.