Cynthia Selfe

Selfe seems to be interested primarily in the social, political, cultural, and historical issues surrounding the use of technology in education. She supports the utilization of technology but more importantly argues that a closer look should be taken as to how the implication of technology is affecting both students and educators, and the climate of education as a whole.

One of the first acknowledgements that Selfe makes (and unfortunately relatively few secondary teachers are making) is that outside of the educational setting students are engaging with technology obsessively, impulsively and often thoughtlessly. This brings up a couple of issues. First of all, educators of an earlier generation are rarely as tech-savvy as their students, so a new form of digital divide is increasing between these two groups. Secondly, students are not only imprudently accessing information, but they are also recklessly supplying information about themselves. Students may have adept skills in using technology, but they need to be taught to use these skills in tandem with critical and metacognitive thinking.

Selfe’s interest in hypertext theory is very interesting to me. This theory is somewhat associated with postmodern theory in that it favors a decentered rather than linear view of texts. Likewise, hypertext theory concerns arrangement in terms of the five canons of rhetoric. In terms of authority and ownership, many changes have taken place since print culture, blurring the lines between reader and writer. I like this theory because, though we don’t know all of the implication technology will have on society, this is a good way to begin reflecting on the monumental changes our society is experiencing.

Selfe and her fellow collaborators like Gail Hawisher advocate critical thinking when incorporating technology because they make the point that technology is not neutral – though who control it have a political agenda just like with any other medium. It is crucial that students learn to see the political connections associated with their use of this tool and not to be simply blind indulgers of technology.