How Education Works: Teaching, Technology, and Technique (Issues in Distance Education)

An engaging proposal for a new theory of education, diagraming how humans and technology can maximize learning for students.

In this absorbing volume, Jon Dron views education, learning, and teaching through a technological lens. Focusing on the parts we play in technologies—from language and pedagogies to computers and regulations—Dron posits that individuals are not just users but technical coparticipants.

Dron reframes popular families of educational theory and explains a variety of educational phenomena, including the failure of learning style theories, literacies, the prevalence of cheating, and the fundamental differences between online and in-person learning. Ultimately, How Education Works articulates how practitioners in education can usefully understand technology, education, and their relationship to improve teaching practice.

Jon Dron is a member of the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute and professor in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Athabasca University.