Watters and Ed-Tech Criticism

 It's refreshing to see individuals problematize what many laud as one of the next great developments in education.  While I am the first to admit that technology has made my life as a student and as a higher education practitioner easier and more efficient (and if I'm honest it's made my personal life more efficient as well), I can also see the problems technology has imposed on education.  Watters unapologetically problematizes ed-tech in a way that is approachable, easy to understand and well researched.  I also appreciate the review of "Stories We Were Told About" categorized by year.  

I was especially drawn to the 2018 post and the emphasis on school safety as a tech issue.  I, too credit the revenue streams available as a possible reason for the shift in focus around technology and it's importance in school safety discussions.  I also agree that in a field dominated by the idea of innovation the choice between "surveillance and surveillance" lacks the innovation needed to combat such a growing concern in our educational institutions.  

I don't know the best solution.  I've been in schools that employ some of the best security systems and technology devices available to do the best to keep students, staff and school community members safe.  I've also been in schools where all I needed to do was sign in on a piece of paper or an iPad and wear a visitor badge.  While I'm not sure what would be the best implementation of technology across schools in terms of security and safety I do know that larger conversations around school safety with an emphasis on a holistic approach are needed.

Along the same lines of general school safety though Watters brings up a number of other technology topics that I believe can also fall under a broader safety discussion in the world of education technology.  Consider for instance, Watters' discussion of the "Me Too" movement and the larger conversations around sexual harassment that took place throughout much of 2018.

These are just some of the different topics Watters synthesizes and problematizes in a single post.  It was fascinating to read Watters' views on various topics and see the trends within the ed-tech field laid out in a timeline type fashion.

Overwhelmingly it seems that Watters argues for increased innovation when it comes to solving the problems technology has created in classrooms and that education, specifically education-technology is fraught with it's own problems.  All of this being said, while I agree with Watters on the need for increased innovation and the need to critique the current state of education-technology I do not go so far as to argue that I do not like any of the education-technology systems out there.  

In fact, I'd be lying if I said I did not appreciate all the lessons learned from Khan Academy and other tech resources during my days in an organic chemistry lecture.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Equity and Restorative Justice

It seems while the world continues to move to increased digital reliance, this concept of the digital divide grows ever more prominent.  Understanding the inequity that exists when it comes to the use and access of technology is crucial to understanding how to best utilize technology in various fields, especially education.  At its most fundamental level, the digital divide is concerned with understanding how to integrate and utilize technology in a way that is equitable and provides the greatest service to the greatest number of users.  When considering the field of education, the digital divide also deals with a number of issues restorative justice practices also aim to improve.   For our emerging technology practices project our group focused on the importance of restorative justice practices in peak transition periods in education (middle to secondary education and secondary to higher education).  What we discussed was an overwhelming theme of meeting s...
Read more

No (Real) Stakes Practice

 "You're going to be in charge of managing a sheep herd this semester.  Whoever has the most living sheep at the end of the semester wins."  This is how my animal genetics professor opened class the first day of my sophomore year.  I distinctly remember my classmates and I looking at each other in disbelief before the whispers started.   She's going to put us in charge of sheep?  Is that legal? I don't know the first thing about sheep! This is insane! Yes, we all could have guessed that our professor was not actually going to put a bunch of inexperienced students in charge of multiple live sheep herds but this was pre-pandemic learning and technology-based lab experiments were not common practice in our Animal Science program.   Our professor was one of a handful of professors who understood the importance of integrating fun and interactive technology into what was otherwise a class full of numbers, calculations and confusing situations....
Read more