The rationality of media discourse on learning technology at Canadian universities: Communications distortions in selected popular, academic and practical texts

This dissertation provides an analysis of the media discourse on learning technology, particularly its costs and benefits using Habermas' communicative rationality, particularly his notion of “the ideal speech situation”, as a conceptual tool. Its focus is on assessing the “rationality” of the discourse and its distortions by adapting Habermas' validity claims: “truth”, “sincerity”, “clarity” and “legitimacy”. A selection of texts published from 1993–1998 in high circulation popular, academic and practitioner journals is analyzed using both quantitative content analysis and qualitative discourse analytic techniques. A subset of these texts related to a specific learning technology project—the “Acadia Advantage”—is examined in more detail. As discourse is part of the institutional environment of organizations, this dissertation provides insight into some of the distortions which may influence the framing and consequences of organizational decision making. Examining media discourse within a defined time period also allows us to consider its relationship to other developments, including some of the factors which shape the (re) production of the discourse.; Four theoretical contributions are made that supplement the limited existing research on the discursive environments of organizations. (1) By applying the standard of the Habermasian “ideal speech situation” to the discourse on learning technology, a wide range of “distortions” are revealed. Specifically, benefits tend to be overstated with limited empirical support and costs tend to be all but ignored. The language used to describe technology, particularly the metaphors and the adjectives, tend to reinforce the “technological imperative” and the value of the technology. Language, particularly language regarding technology, is sometimes used to obscure rather than to clarify. Finally, the analysis suggests that certain perspectives, particularly those of the technology enthusiasts, tend to be privileged while the voices of technology critics tend to be excluded or marginalized. (2) Given the influence of the institutional environments on organizations, these distortions may undermine effective decision making in organizations. This dissertation explores the implications of the discursive environments of organizations for the rationality of technology decision-making. Building on Forester (1983), it illustrates how discourse analysis may be applied to “undistort” communications, to make technology decision-making “as reasonable as possible”. (3) This dissertation also makes a unique methodological contribution by demonstrating how Habermas' ideal speech situation, and specifically, his validity claims may be operationalized and applied to discourse. (4) Finally, this dissertation reveals complex interactions between “stakeholders” and part-discourses in the production and reproduction of the discourse and so suggests how discursive practices both reflect and shape the isomorphic behaviour of organizations. It suggests that the patterns associated with learning technology resemble some of the patterns observed with management fashions and fads. It also suggests that while the apparent “irrationality” of technology discourse may serve rational ends, such as the legitimization of change, it also creates a potential for backlash. In addition it proposes a wide range of areas for further research including the political economy of discourse, its societal effects and its relationship to individual perceptions and beliefs.