Digital technologies have made a significant impact on the information and communication processes in all spheres of life with digitalization being witnessed not just in terms of data but also in our modes of interactions. In education as well, the digital push can be seen to have increased owing to the prolonged school closures during the pandemic and the emphasis being laid by current government policies and programs. Additionally, 'platformization' or the dominance of web-based platforms like Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. in facilitating social and economic activities has also been seeing a steady increase. The period during the pandemic saw hundreds, if not thousands of EdTech companies backed by venture capitalists mushrooming in the so-called K-12 education ‘market’, thereby bringing in the ill effects of platformization into the school education space as well. In this context, it is important to bring in critical perspectives and build a deeper understanding of the benefits and harms from these EdTech phenomena, and tease out principles that should underlie its adoption.
CONVERSATIONS – a talk series organized by The School of Educational Studies, formerly TISS - Azim Premji School of Education – invited Gurumurthy Kasinathan and Anusha Sharma to throw light on some of the current trends and challenges associated with EdTech in India and discuss possible models for meaningful integration of digital technologies in teaching-learning and teacher development on 13th July 2023.