Abstract

Faculties of Education in Alberta are required to prepare teachers to integrate technology but to what end? Is technology being positioned as a vehicle to enhance classroom practice or as means of preparing K-12 students for the ‘global marketplace’ by developing skills within the curriculum – or both? Results of a critical analysis of Alberta Education’s Business Plan, the Learning and Technology Policy Framework and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Program of Studies reveals the diverse, sometimes contradictory, role of technology in schools. Discussion will consider ICT policy within a broader conception of public schooling in order to further illuminate, and question, the current assumptions in ICT policy discourse while considering the possibilities for Faculties of Education to position technology within a pedagogically focused strategy.