Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Technology in education: A Tool on Whose Terms?

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This is a massive (435 page PDF) report from UNESCO's Global Education Monitoring Report team. I haven't read it all, but happily, the sections come prefaced with a list of 'key messages' so it's easy to get an overview. That said, these messages will not be a surprise to people in the field: while acknowledging the impact of technology, the authors maintain that education has not yet been transform, and those it has been impacted most are those in higher education in mostly wealthy countries. Technology changes so rapidly it's impossible to evaluate its impact on outcomes, and what evidence we have comes from the vendors. There's also a risk of adopting technology without sufficient attention to the downsides. The overall tenor of the report - which I'll characterize as 'super super cautious' makes it amenable to misrepresentation; as Ben Williamson takes pains to show, the report does not (despite media reports) call for a ban on cellphones in classrooms.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Nov 21, 2024 4:03 p.m.

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