"…their expertise more and more an artifact
of their manipulation of the machine"
(Gee,
et al, 1996)
Although Gee and friends give the above statement in reference to
drafting and design engineers losing stature as computer programs take over
their jobs, I could put this reference directly into my higher education experiences
with online learning - not as a subject matter expert (e.g., professor) but as
a lowly graduate student. To frame this
discourse, I worked as a GTA during my master's program assisting professors in
the business school to get class materials "online." I was definitely a computer novice at the
time (a mere 10 years ago) but I had learned not to be afraid of the
technology. Looking back, I think both my age (40 something) and eagerness to
master WebCT (a platform similar to Blackboard) put me in the priesthood status
among professors who were a bit older than I and who did not care in the least
for the new technology they were being pressured to use. I recall one in particular, a high-powered
individual who relished "toughening-up" his protégés for the
corporate world. He would need to post
documents, grade papers, or monitor discussion boards, pretty mundane things by
today's standards. He would log me in to his account - watch a few minutes -
shudder- and leave me to take care of whatever the issue was. I would call over my shoulder, "what if I
need you to okay something?" "You have my full confidence," he
would call back and leave the immediate area. Talk about power. There were a couple of very tech savvy young
people (also GTA's) I learned a lot from. The power dynamics in the department
were very interesting around the implementation of technology, too. The most
empowered male professors seemed to prefer my assistance (although I was a woman)
to the young, quick men. They were more intimidated by them than me … hmmm.
Female professors did not seem to care who helped them just as long as they got
help. Please recall that online teaching
was just gaining credence and there was a great deal of resistance to it. Nevertheless,
having some technological expertise gave the online GTA's status and power.
Thinking about it now, I see the text on page 37 were Gee et al., state
"in a knowledge society there needs to be a renewed and vigorous debate
about what sorts of knowledge bring flexibility and power, and what sorts do
not," with fresh eyes. This was
written around the time this "new" format of online teaching was
gaining ground and threatening a good many people in higher education just as
it was in the corporate sector. Could it
be that the "vigorous debate" needed to make sure that those who had
acquired power held onto it? And what about the authors transparency? As you
follow the article on into page 38, there is definitely some antagonism toward
these new knowledge workers (foot soldiers of the information economy) in back
offices - linked to the worldwide web - sucking up all your information in a
"mania" of data collection, etc. These priests filtering and
assessing information and deciding what is….truth.
