Social Fairness and equity by technology???

This week we argued on this topic: “Has Technology Led to a More Equitable Society?”

Kennedy and Ummey  were on pros of it while Graeme and Jeff Barrett challenged them as cons. Social equity means: “Equity is just and fair inclusion. An equitable society is one in which all can participate and prosper. The goals of equity must be to create conditions that allow all to reach their full potential. In short, equity creates a path from hope to
change.”

Technology and educational equity
The advocates of the debate elaborated on the importance of Technology in classrooms. They discussed two ways technology is used in the classroom:
 Teaching online especially during pandemic

 Daily education from applications and social media (tutorial apps like Duolingo) to posting assignments, resources and materials

Advancements of technology have helped everyone’s learning providing online teaching and learning platforms and apps without spending much money or time (on commuting to distant classes) regardless of a person’s age or free time. It means that younger ages or elder ones can easily have access to learning at any time of a day! Referring to the article by Hall (2006), you can bridge the technology gap only if equitable learning opportunities are provided for all students.

Technology and social equity
Social platforms result in social justice or equity by sharing information and campaigning for your rights. The benefits of such platforms can be summarized as freedom of speech, raising awareness, having global audience for opinions and news and finally sharing your content without any costs!!! Nowadays, by means of social networks and blogs, everyone in the world who has a net connection can share his/her ideas or believes and create content and widespread it worldwide without the fear of authorities or their positions. In addition, people can enjoy the empathy and self-awareness by creating a global support group after sharing pictures, videos and texts in social applications like snapchat. Let’s watch how well Varela (2017) describes it. So even lonely peopled are not bothered of their loneliness.

Assistive technology (AT) and equity
Assistive technology (AT) is a term used for showing how technology helps people with cognitive or physical disabilities to have easier learning, communication, education, work and life. With the help of AT, disabled people can experience almost as normal lifestyle as other people for their education, work or communication. For instance, specialized mobile phones are used by blind people to talk, search or navigate. Communication devices, special purpose computers, wheelchairs, braces, prosthetics, mounting systems, and much more are examples of physical ATs.

 Technology and Health Opportunities
Individuals’ access to healthcare services and health records through telemedicine are other beneficial aspects of technology for all. Moreover, health education can be provided through social media.

Technology and Funding
This includes donation pages, such as go fund me crowdfunding and rally up. Technology is not only useful for providing people with equal opportunity to advertise for their fundraiser, it also provides easier opportunity for people to donate and help them. So you can easily fund raise and bring awareness to those around the world.

Technology and more globalized world
Online pages help us bridge cultural diversity and make immigration processing easier. Language learning and cultural exchange through social media platforms and apps which results in more diverse but less racial societies. As I learned a lot about my destination, Canada, before immigrating to it.

On the opposing side, some people like Sume (2016) put the relevance of technology and social equity under question. For instance, the sudden shift during Covid-19 assumed that everyone had the capacity to learn and work online. However, the difficult reality is that many were left behind. Most deeply impacted were students from low- income families who returned to school having experienced even less engagement.

Hence, due to the arguments above, benefits of technology in a more equitable society is undeniable and it has digitalized and globalized our world. Tech in education caused reduction of educational disparities and expansion of online learning.