Education Technology Society

Nathalie DiBerardino (Western University) discusses the growing take-up of emotion AI in schools – tech that claims to detect student attention, concentration, and even interest levels. What are the harms of relying on such tech in classrooms, and how might educators and students push back? Accompanying reference >>> DiBerardino, N. & Stark, L. (2023). (Anti)-Intenti

Jack Reed (University of Exeter) talks about the recent UK government push to ban mobile phones from schools in England. He fills us in on the motivations of UK politicians, why phone bans need to seen as a human rights issue, and the benefits of taking a postdigital approach to thinking about technology and education.Accompanying reference >>> Reed, J. & Dunn, C. (20

Antti Paakkari (Tampere University) talks about his research on digital technologies in Finnish early childhood centres – from digital portfolios to activity trackers. We discuss how these technologies are changing the dynamics between children, educators and parents, and leading to increased assessment of children despite the expectation that early childhood centres are assessme

Faith Boninger talks about how digital technologies are increasingly implicated in the commercialism of education. We talk about Faith’s involvement in the long-running NEPC reports on virtual high schools, the NEPC’s fight against personalised learning systems, and why tech companies have an insatiable urge to ‘fix’ education. Accompanying link >> The National Educ

Recent reports of facial recognition technology being developed for use in US classrooms has attracted widespread criticism. We talk to Charles Logan (Northwestern University) about the problems that facial recognition poses for students and educators. >>> Accompanying reference: Inside Higher Education (2024). Facial Recognition Heads to Class. Will Students Benefit? Feb

Michael Geiss (Zurich University of Teacher Education) talks about a new edited book looking at how computers came into European schools from the 1960s to 1990s. We talk about the importance of ‘pioneer’ teachers in paving the way for EdTech markets to develop, why critical scholars need to ‘follow the money’ while also paying more attention to national political structures

Jack Webster (University of Auckland) talks about the need to update how schools teach the topic of ‘Digital Citizenship’, and how post-digital thinking might revitalise this often-overlooked aspect of digital education. Accompanying reference >> Jack Webster (2024). Updating Digital Citizenship Education for a Postdigital Society. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studi

Katerina Sperling (Linköping University) talks about her ongoing research into the realities of AI use in Swedish primary classrooms. Accompanying reference >> Katarina Sperling, Linnéa Stenliden, Jörgen Nissen, Fredrik Heintz (2022). Still w(AI)ting for the automation of teaching: An exploration of machine learning in Swedish primary education using Actor-Network Theory.

Claire Murray (University of South Australia) talks about research looking at the claims made by EdTech companies and investors about the ‘digital disruption’ of universities.She talks about how the EdTech sector is limited by its focus on the economic value of higher education and promises of enhanced efficiency, acceleration and scalability.In contrast to promises of micro-cr

In August 2023, the Swedish education minister Lotta Edholm surprised many people by announcing her government’s intention to reverse the country’s previous bold commitment to the digitisation of schools. With more details now emerging of an official commitment to textbooks, hand-writing and other ‘analogue’ methods, we catch up Prof. Anna-Lena Godhe (Jönköping University