Toward a Theory of Negativity

Teachers are vulnerable to the technopositivist ideology that perpetuates a naive faith in the “promises” of technology. Most teachers have been denied opportunities to explore the motives, power, rewards, and sanctions associated with the unscrupulous marketing of information and communications technology (ICT) and tend to be uninformed about the research that has failed to find a positive relationship between ICT use and student achievement. They remain unaware of the efforts to disguise how devotion to technology necessarily entails retrofitting the purposes and practices of education. This article examines technopositivism as a marketed ideology and follows the marketing strategies that appropriate and redefine educational goals and problems. It explores the alleged link between constructivism and technology and considers how teacher education and standard-setting bodies perpetuate this contestable association. Finally, the article suggests some deliberately critical questions that can be legitimated only if posed by teacher educators.