Dialectic Argumentation for Promoting Dialogue in IT Education: An Epistemological Framework for Considering the Social Impacts of IT

Abstract

If a deep and meaningful understanding of Information Technology is to flourish, we need, as educators, to create an ethos in which students can express themselves in a risk-free environment. In order to promote higher-order thinking skills, we must move from the single-expert view to a more collaborative classroom. In information technology, there are controversies and different solutions to problems: Students need to be helped to understand the arguments from different points of view, and to see how they relate to each other. The development of technological literacy, as well as life skills, will be accelerated through the use of argumentation skills such as debating, justifying an opinion, weighing up conflicting points of view and analyzing disagreements. These skills that are inextricably linked to problem-solving skills, may be assessed in dynamic and exciting ways, such as observation, interaction, group work and challenge. Arguments may be grounded on common knowledge, personal knowledge, testimony, plausibility and necessary truth. These philosophies are essential to understanding both the made world and the new electronic age.