In the first paragraphs of this volume, the author writes of an "authenticity paradox": arguing that the purported real-worldedness of a learning environment, technique or task is so rhetorically potent that educators frequently call attention to it in pedagogical conversations to legitimize their undertakings, while at the same time, terms such as "real-world" and "authentic" do not require (and even resist) precise delineation. Using the language of authenticity as a keyhole through which to view contemporary educational theory, Joseph Petraglia draws on theories of cognition, education and knowledge to articulate the interdisciplinarity of "constructivism" and to demonstrate the combination of constructivism's social scientific and epistemological commitments. He argues that a full-bodied embrace of constructivist theory requires that educators forego "knowledge as we know it" and recommends a "rhetorical" approach to constructivist instruction that recognizes the cultural, social and behavioural practices which play a significant role in defining learners' "real worlds". Applying this critique to the field of educational technology, the author offers a means by which these shortcomings can be engaged and, perhaps, overcome.