Official Course Description
In the present, the topic of "learning" is debated on two levels in particular: On the one hand, there is the digitalization of learning, which provides new opportunities for learning with the help of electronic media. On the other side is "machine learning," in which machines are trained to "learn" from information themselves. Both levels are based on quantification, scientification and mechanization processes of learning, which since the beginning of the 20th century have been accompanied by a fundamental change from traditional humanistic concepts of "learning subjects". The seminar will analyze these processes and thus the connection between learning and technology on the basis of different texts of behaviorism. The aim is to work out how quantifiable as well as gendered learning subjects were constructed through quantification, which in turn were to be optimized and controlled through mechanization. The significance of experiments, technical objects (teaching and learning machines) and technical environments (experimental systems) in the production of knowledge and the development of learning theories are at the center of the analyses in the history of science. By elaborating anthropological and epistemological premises and developments of the co-constructions of learning and technology, the seminar aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of current developments in the field of digital and machine learning.
In the present, the topic of "learning" is debated on two levels in particular: On the one hand, there is the digitalization of learning, which provides new opportunities for learning with the help of electronic media. On the other side is "machine learning," in which machines are trained to "learn" from information themselves. Both levels are based on quantification, scientification and mechanization processes of learning, which since the beginning of the 20th century have been accompanied by a fundamental change from traditional humanistic concepts of "learning subjects". The seminar will analyze these processes and thus the connection between learning and technology on the basis of different texts of behaviorism. The aim is to work out how quantifiable as well as gendered learning subjects were constructed through quantification, which in turn were to be optimized and controlled through mechanization. The significance of experiments, technical objects (teaching and learning machines) and technical environments (experimental systems) in the production of knowledge and the development of learning theories are at the center of the analyses in the history of science. By elaborating anthropological and epistemological premises and developments of the co-constructions of learning and technology, the seminar aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of current developments in the field of digital and machine learning.
- Lehrende: Kevin Liggieri
Semester: WT 2022/23