Technology and Classroom Practice: what needs to change
With funding from the ESRC Education Research Programme, the projects have used survey data, classroom ethnographies, teacher-led communities of practice and interviews with EdTech sector entrepreneurs to examine the relationship between technology, design and school-based practice. In conversation with Dr Sangeet Bhullar, Executive Director, of WISE KIDS and Martin Oliver, UCL Institute of Education, they will reflect on the dilemmas teachers face in using technology to enhance rather than diminish pedagogic practice at a time of escalating social inequalities.
How looking at teacher agency could contribute to better teaching using EdTech – John Gordon
Despite generally good access to EdTech for teachers and increasing sophistication of hardware and applications available, the extent to which teachers use EdTech varies considerably. According to international studies, mandating that teachers use EdTech through professional frameworks or digital competences does not improve practice. This suggests that if we are to deploy EdTech more effectively, we must look beyond the promised functions and affordances of EdTech, and beyond regulation prescribing technology use, to better understand how teachers experience EdTech in the contexts of their work. This presentation describes methods we have developed to understand teacher agency with EdTech, to take into account the resources available to teachers, the institutional structures in which they work, and their interaction with colleagues and students. We present a ‘thinking tool’ for considering the degrees of agency teachers experience with EdTech, proposing its application in teacher education, professional development, and leadership decision making for procuring and implementing EdTech in schools.
Changing teachers or changing tech? Holding EdTech to account in secondary school classrooms – Rebecca Eynon
Proponents of EdTech enthusiastically demand teachers to change their practice. Teachers that don’t do so are considered to be lacking the necessary skills or vision. However, Edtech is not a perfect tool that will uniformly transform the classroom from the better, and teachers varied responses and uses of technology for learning and teaching reflect not only differences in resources, school culture, student needs, or teacher knowledge, but also problematic EdTech. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research from the EdTech Equity project, which explores the relationships between equity, technology and teaching and learning in secondary schools, this talk highlights some of the realities of using EdTech in practice, and suggests ten proposals to inform the design of technology for secondary schools.
Teaching for Digital Citizenship: Data Justice in the Classroom and Beyond – David Lundie
The challenges of Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, social media use, the polarisation of discourse in digital spaces and beyond, weigh heavily on young people. Digitisation and datafication of public life has made processes less transparent, contributing to citizens feeling disempowered, apathetic, and angry. Citizenship education has always had a role in preparing young people for the ‘good society’ in relation to the challenges of the age, whether the concern for an ‘education for freedom’ in the aftermath of the Second World War, or for ‘global citizenship education’ at the turn of the 21st century. In relation to the digital, young people have a right to critical information literacy – to understand that the information ecosystem we currently inhabit is not inevitable, it is the result of socio-historical and technical choices and structures, which are contingent and can be changed. Many of the capacities that enable the exercise of rights, and the building of a better demos in the digital age, rest on analogue human capacities for discernment.
Drawing on the ESRC Education Research Programme funded project Teaching for Digital Citizenship: Data Justice in the Classroom and Beyond, this presentation presents findings from teacher surveys, expert conferences, practitioner action research, and in-depth ethnographic engagement with schools to engage the question of what models make for effective digital citizenship education. Drawing attention to a problematic future-orientation which prevents and occludes deep reflection on the values underpinning schools’ digital pedagogies, infrastructures, and information systems, the presentation will suggest a reflective self-evaluation framework for schools and education systems to ensure digital citizenship is aligned to their values and ethos at every level.
This series is jointly organised by the UCL Institute of Education Pro-Director Research and the ESRC Education Research Programme (ERP). It aims to spark new thinking across education, social research and the wider social sciences on how research, policy and practice can most productively interact.
This event will be hosted online. Recordings and a summary of the key questions the debate raised will be made available on the ERP website afterwards.
