Blog entries from subramod

Ideology: Another dimension of professional typecasting?

Deepak Subramony — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:36:35 +0100

It is commonly known that some professions - like those in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields - have traditionally been typecast as 'masculine,' with women often being socialized away from these areas in our patriarchic, male-dominated society. Likewise, some careers - like nursing and K-12 education - have been viewed as traditonally 'female' work.

African-Americans and Latinos have had a hard time cracking the glass ceiling that separates them from theRead More...

Not all students own computers ... even now!

Deepak Subramony — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:35:16 +0100

In my last blog entry I talked about a prevalent opinion among young people I teach that the whole brouhaha over the Digital Divide may be nothing more than a Clinton-era left-wing invention (just like Climate Change!). So I was intrigued to see the following article in the Grand Rapids Press, citing this year’s annual survey by the Campus Computing Project:

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/01/save_the_computer_lab_some_exp.html

The artiRead More...

Is the "Digital Divide" just Left-Wing propaganda?

Deepak Subramony — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:33:16 +0100

As an educational technologist whose specific area of interest lies in the attitudes and experiences of minority learners with educational and communications technologies (ECT), the concept of the "Digital Divide" - with all of its dimensions: the haves and the have-nots, the knowers and the know-nots, the doers and the do-nots (Tapscott, 2000) - has drawn much of my scholarly and professional attention over the years.

But when I bring up this issue in class, some of my undergraduate Read More...

Eurocentrism in the Ed Tech Discourse

Deepak Subramony — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:07:21 +0100

Are "modernization" and "westernization" synonyms? Is "modern" technology essentially a "western" - i.e. Euro-American - invention? These are important questions for students and teachers to consider, especially in today's rapidly globalizing socioeconomic milieu.

However, not much thought seems to have been given to questions such as these within the mainstream scholarly discourse in the field of educational technology. On the other hand, many educational technologists appear to operRead More...

Classroom Visual Aids Have a Sell-by Date!

Deepak Subramony — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:15:34 +0100

As educators assigned with teaching the same or similar courses year after year, it is inevitable that we will reuse/recycle some instructional materials from course to course. This is especially true with foundational courses, since the fundamentals of the field rarely change much between one semester and the next. However, that being said, it still remains our duty to ensure that, in reusing course materials, we don't exhibit the kind of professional complacence/sloppiness that invites ridiRead More...

Gender, culture, and computers...

Deepak Subramony — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:54:16 +0100

Those working in the field of multicultural education recognize that there are diverse ways in which human beings are diverse ... culture, socioeconomic class, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and so on. And when these multiple diversities interact, they produce patterns of breathtaking complexity reminiscent of fractal geometry.

My very first experience teaching college in the United States was roughly seven years ago at a large Midwestern university, where I was assigned an intrRead More...