Neoliberalism, Neofundamentalism and Educational Technology in Pakistan
This paper brings together two major global trends and connects them to trends in educational technology implementation in Pakistan. Neoliberalism champions weak state controls over business entities and economic interests while neofundamentalism champions personal piety, Islamic modernism and calls for theocratic polity. Here connections are made between these trends to explain and predict the use, misuse, and lack of use of computers in schools.
Michael Thomas is an assistant professor in the Educational Communications and Technology program in the Department of Curriculum & instruction at UW-Madison. He earned his PhD in instructional systems technology from Indiana University-Bloomington. His research interests focus on the cultural issues related to the implementation of educational technologies in schools, the role of culture and identity in instructional design, and the use of virtual
worlds as learning environments.