Embedding criticality in learning technology professional development: an action research study

As an action research study this research commenced as an attempt to address a gap between my beliefs and my practices - my experience of myself as a “living contradiction” (Whitehead 1989). As a learning technologist I believed that criticality should be at the centre of learning technology PD, but my practices did not reflect this belief. This research focused on a two-year learning technology PD programme with nine teachers working in FET in Irelands mid-west promoting the development of criticality framed as a broad, radical and potentially emancipatory concept which goes beyond critical thinking (Barnett 1997). Four research lenses were applied capturing my own perspective, those of the research participants, those of colleagues acting as critical friends and insights gleaned from literature. The study captures my own professional growth as my understanding of criticality evolved and I embraced the concept of critical being. Among the teachers the research exposed techno-positivity as dominant and uncovered the phenomena of “techno-magic” where new technologies were viewed as magical, and “techno-guilt” (Ryan et al. 2020) where some teachers blamed themselves for not using new technologies. These phenomena exist in a global context where technology use is promoted uncritically, and there is a propensity to blame teachers for the failure of technology led educational reform. The programme also brought a focus on the issue of agency and how the context in which teachers work frames the approaches they adopt. The research argues that bringing criticality to the core of technology adoption practice is crucially important but will require changes to current policy and involve bringing teachers and learners to the centre of the process. Only if teachers have a genuine stake in the development of the sector will the real possibilities of criticality be unlocked.