Education Technology Society

Schools are increasingly reliant on data infrastructures and platforms – leading to the growing significance of various ‘intermediary actors’ now playing key roles in the governance of digital education. Sigrid Hartong (Helmut-Schmidt-University Hamburg) joins us to talk about this fast changing aspect of ed-tech. Accompanying reference >>>  Hartong, S., Geiss, M. &  Röhl, T. (2024).  Intermediaries and the digital transformation of schooling: an introduction.  Research in Education  120(1):3-13 

The growth of deliberately misleading and false information is one of the big concerns of the 2020s. Professor Olof Sundin (Lund University) has been researching students’ (dis)information literacy since the early 2000s. He joins us to talk about the latest developments in this area – particularly the trend of now using AI to both produce *and* retrieve information. Accompanying reference >>> Haider, J. & Sundin, O. (2022). Paradoxes of media and information literacy: The crisis of information. Routledge

Where are universities going with digitisation and AI, and how does this fit with the views of staff and students? Dr. Magda Pischetola  (University of Copenhagen) talks about her recent research into university policymaking around GenAI, and a survey of university teachers’ desired digital futures. Accompanying reference >>>  Driessens, O. & Pischetola, M. (2024). Danish university policies on generative AI: Problems, assumptions and sustainability blind spots. MedieKultur: 40(76):31-52. 

Last year the Korean government announced its substantial commitment to AI and schools, launching an ‘AI Digital Textbook’ policy that promises to establish AI-driven customised learning across the education system. We are joined by Dr. Jina Ro (Sungkyunkwan University) to make sense of Korea’s recent ed-tech turn, and the wider motivations for investing so heavily in the promise of AI transforming traditional schooling. Accompanying reference >>>  Jina Ro (2025): Enforcing unwarranted optimism: critical frame analysis on educational digitalisation policies in South Korea, Learning, Media and Technology,doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2025.2462940

2022 saw a flurry of reports that the Danish Data Protection Agency was ordering schools to stop using Google products over the tech firm’s misuse of students’ personal data. We talk to Emilie Mørch Groth (Aarhus University) to see what has happened since, what this controversy tells us about the digital dependency of the modern welfare state, and the complexities of pushing back against Big Tech corporations. Accompanying reference >>>  Morgan Meaker (2022). A Danish city built Google into its schools—then banned it. Wired, 23rd September,  https://www.wired.com/story/denmark-google-schools-data/

On the face of it, digital technologies are now integral to university teaching and learning. But to what extent have things actually changed … and are these changes  wholly positive? Cathrine Tømte (University of Agder) talks about the impacts of digitisation on Norwegian universities, and why teachers and students should perhaps be joining forces to push for radically different technologies. Accompanying reference >>> Rómulo Pinheiro, Cathrine Tømte, Linda Barman, Lise Degn & Lars Geschwind (2023) Digital Transformations in Nordic Higher Education. Springer [open access]

Platforms are now an almost ubiquitous feature of schools. We talk with Lucas Cone (University of Copenhagen) about his work around teachers’ everyday engagements with platforms – in particular the benefits of using affect theory to make sense of teachers’ affiliations and relationships with these clearly problematic technologies.  Accompanying reference >>>  Lucas Cone (2024) Subscribing school: digital platforms, affective attachments, and cruel optimism in a Danish public primary school, Critical Studies in Education, 65(3):294-311, DOI: 10.1080/17508487.2023.2269425

Felicitas Macgilchrist, a prominent voice in critical studies of educational technology at Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, shares her insights on examining the complexities of edtech. She discusses the importance of questioning power dynamics rather than labeling technology as simply good or bad. Felicitas emphasizes navigating the backlash against tech in education and the need for a nuanced understanding of its impact. She inspires listeners with the idea of 'rageful hope' as a catalyst for meaningful change in educational environments, challenging conventional optimism.

Academics are increasingly looking to make an impact on policymakers, but critical ed-tech research often seems to fall on deaf ears. In this episode Dr. Cristóbal Cobo – currently a senior ed-tech specialist at a major international organization – talks about the types of evidence that get most attention in policy circles, and some approaches that might help critical researchers get their messages through.   Accompanying reference >>> Cristóbal Cobo (2019). "I Accept The Terms And Conditions: Uses And Abuses Of Digital Technologies” [PDF book]

Digital books are now a common part of education, but concerns are growing around the problems of students reading on-screen.Marte Blikstad-Balas (University of Oslo) discusses the latest research around what it means to read on-screen as opposed to reading from ‘proper’ books, and why government bans on digital devices are not the best response.Accompanying reference >>> Jensen, R., Roe, A. & Blikstad-Balas, M. (2024). The smell of paper or the shine of a screen? Students’ reading comprehension, text processing, and attitudes when reading on paper and screen. Computers & Education, 219, 105107.