DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR EQUITABLE QUALITY EDUCATION

The use of digital technologies in education (‘EdTech’) has created problems of centralization of control over educational processes, as well as privatization of education.  The use of proprietary  EdTech  creates a dangerous vendor lock-in, in which  teacher agency and institutional autonomy  are  compromised.  This endangers the social transformation goals  of education. The use of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ now, threatens to aggravate the danger, as it accentuates the existing social biases and increases corporate control over education. In order to  enable equitable  quality of education  for  all  children,  digital technologies  must  firstly, be designed  to  enable  inclusive  and  participatory teaching-learning  processes,  effective  teacher education for developing ‘professional and humane’ teachers, and decentralized education administration.  For  achieving  this,  it  is  essential  that  we  use  only  free  and  open digital technologies, that are licensed to allow all (including teachers), to freely share and customize for  their  own  use.  Secondly  the  primary  use of EdTech  should be to empower  teachers  to develop  a  critical understanding  of  tech,  and  design  its  appropriation  in school  education. Education systems should keep technology vendors out of EdTech policy and privilege the role of informed educators in EdTech policy, design, and implementation in the education system.

The article was published in the University of the Southwest of Bahia (UESB) journal

Focus Areas
What We Do
Resource Type
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES FOR EQUITABLE QUALITY EDUCATION