Brief history lessons to (re)think the enthusiasm about digital technologies in education

Abstract

The present work makes use of some contributions in history to propose a reflection about the enthusiasm that infects some people and organizations when the subject is insertion of digital technological objects in school education. The objective is to contribute with the critical analyses of the rhetoric about digital technologies in school. We opted for an exploratory study, of qualitative character, of a thematic guide published virtually by the organization Porvir, deliberately renamed by the authors as Porvir Guide of Technology in Education (PGTE). In general terms, we identified that the rhetoric of the analyzed document is characterized by a publicist enthusiasm, impregnated by solutionism, innovationist, salvationism, and futurism, similar to that observed at the turn of the 19^th to 20^th century. Furthermore, the document omits that the technological transformations are based on human protagonism, which means the involvement of people, groups, organizations and institutions in power relations that harbor, among other, economic and political-ideological interests. By not contemplating the necessary and rigorous critical investigation to be carried out based on history lessons here discussed, we understand that Porvir’s document shows itself to be fragile in indicating digital technologies for education and ways for the contemporary school.