Ferrante, P., Williams, F., Büchner, F., Kiesewetter, S., Chitsauko Muyambi, G., Uleanya, C., & Utterberg Modén, M. (2024) “In/equalities in digital education policy – sociotechnical imaginaries from three world regions” Learning, Media and Technology 49(1): 122-132. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2023.2237870 (open access)

Tech use in teaching and learning has been considered as a contributory factor aiding academic success. Its lack in rural schools has also been considered as a hindrance to quality education. This study through a qualitative method explored the intersection of innovation and technology use as well as the challenges of disconnection. This was done using a selected rural school in KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Data were collected from a case of a secondary school using observations, field notes and semi-structured interviews from a purposively selected sample of a principal, a head of department, six teachers and an administrative clerk. The collected data were coded, categorised and analysed thematically. The findings show among others that inequalities are due to infrastructure, socioeconomic status and location. The disparities influence how digital inequality is experienced, exposing barriers, and frustrations, through digital disconnection. The experience causes the teachers to utilise less of technology and make use of what they have. This study has shaped our discourse in digital technology theory and humanities about what technology is, what it is for, and what kind of justice we ought to seek from it.

Ahiaku, P., & Muyambi, G. (2024). Empowering learners for the fourth industrial revolution: The crucial role of teachers and school management. Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2024.101141 (open access)

This paper delves into the pivotal roles of teachers and school management in driving Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) readiness among leaners. It examines the ways in which teachers and school management can contribute to preparing learners for the demands of 4IR by fostering essential skills, mindsets and knowledge. Drawing from interpretivist paradigm, sample of this qualitative study included three secondary schools close to Empangeni (South Africa) and ranged from fully subsidised to partially subsidised, representing a rich and varied sample. Data collection included class observations, ethnographic field notes and semi-structured interviews with 27 purposively selected teachers including three principals, three heads of departments and 21 teachers. The collective data was analysed using the Atlas-ti and the research found that access to digital technologies, training and skills and continuous professional development remains a problem among teachers and school managers from poor socioeconomic schools whereas teachers and school managers from the richest and most high socioeconomic schools are technologically advanced and in readiness to empower learners for the 4IR. Based on these findings the study advocate for provision of technological resources to schools, comprehensive teacher preparation programs that focus on pedagogical approaches, effective use of digital tools, strategies and curriculum integration of digital technology.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

González López, A.E., Büchner, F. (2024). EdTech in a Broken World: Breaking and Repairing in Argentinian and German Schools. Postdigit Sci Educ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-024-00490-4 (open access)

This article offers insights into the everyday postdigital school life of two schools from two different world regions—Argentina and Germany. Based on ethnographic research in both contexts, it traces the introduction of one educational technology in each case, from the moment of its conception in policy documents to its landing in schools, its appropriation by various school actors and its integration into the socio-technical infrastructure of the classroom. Although both schools are situated differently and both technologies—a learning management system and a tablet computer—are of different quality, the article demonstrates the existence of a remarkable commonality in the journey of both educational technologies: their breakdown and the repair practices performed by various school actors. Breakdown and repair are analysed and conceptualised with reference to the Broken World Thinking exercise. By applying an Ethnography of Global Connections, the locally identified practices in both schools are framed as manifestations of global digitalisation processes in education. The article aims to shift the focus of critical EdTech studies towards two socio-material forces that are commonly addressed separately: material disruption and reassembling (and all the friction in between).

Photo by Fabian Irsara on Unsplash

The articles in the most recent issue of Learning, Media and Technology all focus, in various ways, on how digital technologies are enacted in context-specific ways within formal institutions of education – whether schools, colleges or universities – and their mismatch with imaginaries of digital transformation. They collectively draw attention to the complex and unpredictable institutionalization of digital technologies and edtech. When digital technologies connect with institutional contexts, things rarely play out as their advocates and supporters would wish.

In the editorial, we wonder:

Given the empirically documented history showing that educational technologies rarely work as intended or expected, why do the visionary promises of inventors, investors, and industry figures continue to persist and gain traction?

And we suggest:

The problem, to a significant extent, is that the actual contexts of educational institutions are still rarely considered when new digital technologies are promoted for use in schools, colleges or universities. The contextlessness of glossy imaginaries and optimistic promises comes up against mundane realities. Educational institutions are deeply complex, highly diverse, and bound to encounter digital media and technologies in ways that are shaped by matters as everyday as budgetary restrictions, procurement practices, staff competence, student mood, policy mandates, and myriad other contextual factors. Contextlessness is a strategy for technological failure in educational institutions rather than disruption or revolution, as the history of edtech research has documented

Indeed, exploring contexts – institutional, cultural, political, historic, social, economic, technical, linguistic – is one of the key things that RED aims to do.

To explore who else is working on this puzzle, it is worth checking out issue 48(3) of Learning, Media and Technology, where we brought a few papers together.

Header image by Danielle-Claude Bélanger on Unsplash