Education Technology Society – Details, episodes & analysis

Two years on from the initial panic around Chat GPT and student cheating we catch with Phill Dawson from Deakin’s ‘Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning’.

Phill reflects on what universities have got wrong in their responses to GenAI, and why this might be a good time to entirely rethink the notion of student assessment altogether.

Accompanying reference >>>  Bearman, M., Tai, J., Dawson, P., Boud, D., & Ajjawi, R. (2024). Developing evaluative judgement for a time of generative artificial intelligence. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 1-13.

We talk with Sonia Livingstone (Digital Futures for Children, LSE) about the ways in which EdTech and data protection policies often fail to protect children’s rights at school. 

In particular we look at Google Classroom as an example of how policymakers, regulators and governments need to intervene more forcibly in the EdTech marketplace. 

Accompanying reference >>>  Livingstone, S., Pothong, K., Atabey, A., Hooper, L., & Day, E. (2024). The Googlization of the classroom: Is the UK in protecting children's data and rights? Computers and Education Open, 100195.

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.  European Journal of Education, 57(4):584-600  

https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12526

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-credentials and nano-degrees, Claire’s work suggests that elite institutions, students and families continue to value the social and cultural capital that comes from the traditional mode of four year degrees and face-to-face tuition.

So, unlike ride-sharing, TV viewing and music listening, might higher education markets be structurally distinctive … and potentially resistant to disruptive innovation

Accompanying reference >>   ‘Universities and Unicorns’ project website

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) to find out what is really going on … and whether this is the beginning of an international political backlash against digital technology in the classroom.

 Additional reading >>  The Guardian (Sept 2023).  Switching off: Sweden says back-to-basics schooling works on paper

In this episode, Dr. Lulu Shi (University of Oxford) talks about the her new research around the economic and political agendas of tech firms and policymakers driving the digitalisation of education in the UK. 

Lulu’s work is already raising interesting findings. Amongst other things, we talk about the influence of effective altruism on UK government thinking around tech, and the ambitions of firms such as Duolingo to profit from testing and accreditation.

Accompanying material >>   More information on Lulu’s research and career to date

Wayne Holmes (UCL) has been working around AI and education *long* before it became fashionable!

 In this episode, Wayne looks back over the recent hype around Chat GPT and generative AI and offers some suggestions of where the field of AI and education might be heading next.

 We also get up to speed on how international organisations such as UNESCO, OECD, the EU and Council of Europe are beginning to push distinct agendas around AI and education.

Accompanying reference >>   Wayne Holmes & Ilkka Tuomi (2022). State of the art and practice in AI in education. European Journal of Education, 57:542–570  DOI: 10.1111/ejed.12533

Reports of ‘what China is doing’ are a key part of the hype around AI and education in Western countries.

But how is AI actually being developed in China, and how can we make sense of the complex politics, history and culture of Chinese education?

In this episode we hear from Jeremy Knox (University of Oxford) about his recent book ‘AI and education in China’. 

Accompanying reference >>  Jeremy Knox (2023).  AI and Education in China: Imagining the Future, Excavating the Past. Routledge  https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003375135 

Until recently, Audrey Watters was one of the most prominent and prolific critics of digital technology and education – dubbed  ‘ed-tech's Cassandra'.

Then in 2021, she published a book, quit Twitter, and wound up her highly influential ‘Hack Education’ blog.

In this episode, we catch up with Audrey about her new ‘Second Breakfast’ project, and her pivot to writing about fitness technologies, food and exercise.

Audrey talks about the parallels between fitness tech and digital education, the enduring legacy of BF Skinner in current Silicon Valley thinking, as well as her reflections on the relentless grind of critiquing EdTech.

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Link to Audrey’s ‘Second Breakfast’ Sub stack

Ben Williamson joins us for a sneak preview of the mammoth 2024 World Yearbook of Education with eighteen new  chapters themed around “Digitalization of Education in the Era of Algorithms, Automation and Artificial Intelligence.”

Accompanying reference >>  Ben Williamson, Janja Komljenovic, Kalervo Gulson (eds)  (2024) World Yearbook of Education 2024: Digitalisation of Education in the Era of Algorithms, Automation and Artificial Intelligence. Routledge   ISBN 9781032417905