An ed-tech tragedy? : Educational technologies and school closures in the time of COVID-19 / Mark West.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

West, Mark (Writer on mobile learning), author.

Contributor:

Unesco, issuing body.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Educational technology.

Social distancing (Public health) and education.

COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2023--Psychological aspects.

COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2023.

Distance education.

Web-based instruction.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

2025.

New York ; London : Routledge : UNESCO, 2025.

Summary:

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed education from schools to educational technologies at a pace and scale with no historical precedent. For hundreds of millions of students formal learning became fully dependent on technology - whether internet-connected digital devices, televisions or radios.

Contents:

Cover

Short Summary

Testimonials

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Contents

Epigraph

Summary

Organization

Genesis and research methods

Introduction

Defining ed-tech

The origins and rise of ed-tech

Ed-tech and technology solutionism

Why tragedy?

Situating the disruption

A Netflix moment for commercial ed-tech

Act 1: The hope of tech salvation

Reformatting schools with technology

The Proteus of machines and a new edifice for education

All it takes is a hole in the wall

The stage is set for ed-tech

Cut the red tape and catapult education to a better future

Act 2: From promises to reality

Most learners were left behind

Ed-tech? What ed-tech?

Technology barriers mirrored and widened existing divides

Heightened demand for connectivity and devices put a strain on poor families

A dearth of digital skills prevented teaching and learning

Teachers were unprepared to support remote learning

Inequalities were supercharged

Learning by radio versus real-time, teacher-led video

Digital aspirations and investments favoured the privileged

Efforts to leapfrog progress skipped over disadvantaged learners

Variable connectivity quality and new forms of digital exclusion

Efforts to provide digital skills training left low-level users behind

Technology privileged families with time to support education at home

Wealthy families found alternative solutions

Sociocultural differences put poor families at a disadvantage

School-based inequities were amplified in the transition to remote learning

No room for anywhere learning and fixed times for anytime education

Video classes made inequity jarringly visible

Hardship and heightened exclusion for students with disabilities

An amplification of digital gender divides.

A step backwards for the labour participation of mothers

School closures contributed to increases in child labour

Learners engaged less, achieved less and left state-provisioned education

Time dedicated to education declined dramatically

Lower and slower learning gains with online learning

Disengagement and dropout followed the shift to ed-tech

A flight from public education to home-schooling

Education was narrowed and impoverished

Engines of socialization and acculturation slowed

Student well-being and protection was neglected in digital spaces

A void of support to navigate bereavement

Technology stifled pedagogical possibilities and the agency of teachers

Corporate aesthetics and linguistic hegemony replaced the vibrancy of the classroom

Automation, standardization and homogenization of the learning process

Immersion in technology was unhealthy

Negative impacts of increased screen time

Pains, weight gain and malnutrition

Physical education online and in isolation

Touchless worlds

A retreat into games and proto-metaverses

A subversion of learning to live together

Zoom dysmorphia and digital excarnation

Isolation, invisibility and alienation in school-less schooldays

A parallel mental health pandemic among young people

A digital conveyor belt of personalized learning and the normalization of learning alone

Frustration and stress mark the transition into unfamiliar modes of digital learning

The hidden dangers of rushed online immersion

A curtailing of conversation

Digital addiction and being alone together

Ed-tech is poorly suited for young children

Environmental tolls multiplied with the ed-tech boom

New material and energy needs

The mounting scourge of e-waste

Ed-tech for some, mines and landfills for others.

The private sector tightened its grip on public education

Unprecedented growth and lucrative IPOs for commercial ed-tech providers

Corporate dependencies and reduced government oversight

Cultivating consumer behaviour in students, families and teachers

Surveillance, control and machine processes marked the move to ed-tech

New data gold and the many eyes of ed-tech surveillance

Forced consent and new levers of control

Privacy and personal data slip away in the digital environments of education

Datafication of learning and humans

Emotion-recognition technologies gain a toehold despite flimsy science

Self-censorship and classroom control

Technology aimed at individuals tilts educational research away from groups

Automation and machine processes weaken teacher authority

Fallible algorithms

Remote proctoring, suspicion scores and software sedimentation

Complexity, poor transparency and limited capacity make algorithmic audits rare

Contesting spurious machine judgements and privacy overreach

End of Act 2

Inter-Act: Looking back to see ahead

Looking Back

School closures, the shift to remote learning and public health

Did technology-mediated remote learning contribute to the prolongation of school closures?

If not ed-tech, then what?

Alternative A: Keeping schools open or reopening them quickly

Alternative B: Pause formal education until the resumption of in-person schooling

Alternative C: Focus on supporting caregivers and prioritizing non-technological learning resources

Was COVID-19 an education crisis?

Looking ahead

Ed-tech finds a new rationale - resilience

Is technology a pillar of educational resilience?

If ed-tech is the answer, what is the question?

Act 3: New directions for ed-tech

Prioritize the best interests of students and teachers.

Redesign online environments to centre students' needs

Give teachers agency in ed-tech pedagogies

Design codes, regulation and legislation to put students first

Reaffirm the primacy of in-person learning

Buttress schools as essential social institutions

Guard against the homogenization of education

Question the logic of technology solutionism

Strengthen digital connectivity, capacities and content

Centre the most marginalized in ed-tech planning and deployment

Champion school-first and public connectivity as a step towards ed-tech inclusion

Support the development of free, high-quality digital content and platforms

Build digital capacities and foster pedagogical innovation

Protect the right to education from shrinking ground

Anchor the right to education in standards and definitions that prioritize in-person learning

Ensure children's safety and well-being in physical and digital learning spaces

Reconstruct ed-tech to support holistic education and accommodate educational diversity

Conclusion

Remembering the ed-tech experiences of the pandemic

The arc of tragedy

Reorienting and steering the digital transformation of education

Works Cited

Narrative Text

Voices from the ground

Figures

Bibliography.

Notes:

"The Global Education 2030 Agenda"--title page verso.

Originally published in 2023 by UNESCO.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: West, Mark An Ed-Tech Tragedy?

ISBN:

9781003664406

1-04-043587-4

1-04-043586-6

1-003-66440-7

OCLC:

1545639263