Co-presence of readiness-to-hand and presence-at-hand as the shape of things by revisiting technology-aided learning from the Heideggerian perspective

Abstract

In everyday technology-aided learning, students as Dasein are embedded in equipmentally oriented world with useful and serviceable physical and abstract technology as ready-to-hand for the sake of fulfilling their education needs, while experiencing counterparts as present-at-hand due to (1) technical problems such as system breakdowns, dilapidation or physical damage, and (2) non-technical counterparts such as contents with calculable quantities and relationships in the informationalized world to be theoretically and critically examined. This article analyses the co-presence of the ready-to-hand and present-at-hand modes in learning contexts in sequential and simultaneous ways. Sequentially, the two modes of an technological thing oscillate frequently due to students’ strong familiarity with the use and due to contents of calculable quantities and relationships that reinforce calculative thought. Simultaneously, one technology can be primordially used as ready-to-hand with intense familiarity and proficiency to support the theoretical and critical examination of the other technology as present-at-hand.