'Pedagogy before technology' is an oft-repeated mantra, and I can see the appeal, but from where I sit it's often a plea to "let us keep doing what we have been doing, without any change." And this is to effectively dismiss the idea that technology brings with it affordances that enable us to do better: to reach more people, provide more accurate education, and better prepare them for whatever they may face. This article bases its mantra on the assertion that the benefits of technology are not proven; "Neither in language learning / teaching, nor in education more generally, is there any clear evidence of the necessary benefits of introducing educational technology."
But the scope, at least in this article, is sharply limited to the domain where a teacher uses technology in the classrom. Doing the same thing they have been doing. My challenge to teachers is: imagine you did not exist (which is the reality for hundreds of millions of potential students). Would people be better off, or not, without technology to help them learn? Think outside the bounds of what you are doing as an individual, and to what we can do collectively, as a society.
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