A Critical look at Educational Technology from a Distance Education Perspective

The development of Information and Communication Technology has created waves of excitement about its power to fix educational problems and improve learning results, prompting a succession of policy efforts to integrate digital technology into education. Educators, schools and corporations are increasingly driving these initiatives. This article makes the argument that a narrow vision of digital technology, which both ignores the complexity of education and wastes valuable public resources, is becoming an obstacle to significant improvement and transformation in education. Utilising our research and experience in the field of educational technology, this paper problematises the common elision of ‘technology’ and ‘digital technology’. From this basis, we then critically reflect on various common approaches to introducing digital technology in education under the guise of promoting equality and digital inclusion. These include national government-led programmes, more recent trends for local school-led initiatives, and the role of non-formal education initiatives led by corporations/foundations. Amidst the varying surface-level ‘failure’ and/or ‘success’ of these approaches, we point to limited underpinning ‘information and knowledge society’ logics in framing the application of digital technology to education. As such we conclude by considering the educational challenges for future Ed-Tech initiatives.

Las plataformas digitales están generando los avances más significativos en la innovación educativa global. La pandemia mundial de Covid-19 está acelerando la expansión de las plataformas digitales en educación. Google es la corporación tecnológica que, a través de Google for Education, está liderando la innovación educativa mediante sus plataformas digitales. A partir de este contexto, el objetivo del presente artículo es analizar la innovación en las prácticas educativas y en la formación del profesorado, a través de las plataformas digitales de Google. Desde un enfoque cualitativo basado en la implementación de una etnografía digital y una tecnografía, se han analizado en profundidad ocho sitios web de Google que tienen relación con la formación docente y los datos. Los resultados del estudio muestran que, a través de la API de Classroom, se están generando (1) nuevos procesos de control tecno-educativo, (2) nuevas dinámicas extractivas de los datos y (3) nuevas relaciones rentistas con la industria tecnológica. Junto a ello, se observa que la formación docente para la innovación tecno-educativa en Google se basa en un desarrollado profesional piramidal mediante certificaciones docentes, y en “comunidades educativas Google” que se auto-forman y expanden las herramientas y las lógicas de mercado de la corporación tecnológica.

The current social and educational challenges force us to rethink the role of educational institutions and digital technologies in the 21st century, which requires a deeper understanding of learning activities in schools. In this article we analyze bottom-up initiatives for educational transformation implemented in public lower secondary schools from Norway, Chile and Spain that involved 230 students and 14 teachers. Three ethnographic case studies were carried out, using individual interviews, focus groups, participant observations and document analysis in six schools. The main goal was to deeply understand how bottom-up school initiatives, with a comprehensive use of digital technologies, are contributing to generate connected practices and to involve teachers, learners and communities in the discussion about what kind of society they want in their future. The results of the analysis indicate that fostering a transformative agency in secondary schools has the potential of engaging students in the exploration of contemporary social issues and that digital connectedness can contribute to connect schools with youth life trajectories and communities. This study on transformative agency and digital connectedness reveals a new path for educational transformation that may interest everybody who, in one way or another, are involved in education systems all around the world.Los desafíos sociales y educativos que enfrentamos en la actualidad nos obligan a repensar cuál es el rol de las instituciones educativas y de las tecnologías digitales en el siglo XXI, lo cual requiere una comprensión más profunda de las actividades de aprendizaje de las escuelas. En este artículo analizamos iniciativas para la transformación educativa implementadas en centros de secundaria públicos de Noruega, Chile y España que involucraron a 230 alumnos y 14 profesores. Se llevaron a cabo tres estudios de caso etnográficos a partir de entrevistas, grupos de discusión, observaciones participantes y análisis documental en seis centros. El objetivo principal fue comprender en profundidad cómo estas iniciativas contribuyen a generar prácticas conectadas y a involucrar al profesorado, el estudiantado y las comunidades en la discusión sobre el tipo de sociedad en la que quieren vivir en un futuro. Los resultados del análisis indican que el fomento de una agencia transformadora en los centros de secundaria tiene el potencial de involucrar al alumnado en el estudio de problemáticas sociales contemporáneas y que la conectividad digital puede contribuir a conectar las escuelas con las trayectorias de vida y las comunidades de los jóvenes. Este primer estudio sobre agencia transformadora y conectividad digital desvela una línea de transformación educativa que puede interesar a todos aquellos individuos que, de una forma u otra, están involucrados en los sistemas educativos de todo el mundo.

Not surprisingly, the number of online universities continues to expand—especially in Covid-19 times. These institutions all offer “online education” with diverse institutional, technological, and pedagogical processes. However, a fundamental element has to do with the experience of the students, and how they adapt to the educational model of the online university in which they are studying. In this article, we present the main results of the case-study developed in one of the most historical and relevant virtual universities in an international context. We have explored and analysed the process of adaptation to the educational model by the student body, and their perceptions of their interactions with the pedagogical, institutional, and technological elements designed to support their learning. Qualitative and quantitative methods are used to gather and analyse the data. From 1715 students who participated in the survey and the perceptions of 30 students individually interviewed, the results show positive evaluations regarding the integration and adoption of technological competencies, and also, that the online education generally serves as a responsive model to the emergent needs of the learner. However, the results also show that students have important concerns regarding the pedagogical and institutional support provided.