Technology has the opportunity to reach far and wide and connect us in ways that we have never been connected before – but is technology always leading to equity? Or are we often confusing it with equality?
When I think about technology and its potential to create a more equitable society, it’s clear that it holds transformative power. Technology has the capacity to bridge gaps, break down barriers, and provide opportunities to people regardless of their background. However, this potential is not automatically realized; it requires thoughtful implementation and monitoring. Not everyone needs a Chromebook – especially when you have 3 at home already. Ensuring that technology is equitable means that we have to evaluate which students need what technology – and that not everyone needs the same amount, style, or usage. There needs to be an open conversation with students when it comes to different learning technologies – I often have this conversation around things like wobbly chairs, but also voice-to-text, laptops from home, and other assistive devices. “No, you cannot also have one. Some people need different tools to learn.”
That is just a little piece of the puzzle – my classroom – but if we look at education globally, then the equity side of things becomes much much larger. There are numerous factors that can lead to inequality in education – race, income, gender, and location – but access to technology is one that I would say is (fairly) new. By lessening the device divide and providing students everywhere with the technology they need to participate in the world today barriers to education could potentially be lessened. That isn’t to say that we should just give people pieces of physical technology without teaching them how to use them – or making sure that they have the infrastructure to support it. I often think about how some reserves have had water treatment plants built by the government but were not given the education, or the infrastructure to maintain the plants, and so they were a failed investment due to the laziness of the government. We don’t want the same thing to happen with technology and our students.
On another note – pushing for everyone globally to have the same devices and the same understanding of importance in education is just silly. When we think of technology in the classroom – or when we speak of it in classes like these – we position ourselves as Westerners as center of education. We know what the global education issue needs – and that is tools like we use. Obviously, that isn’t true. There are places, and groups of peoples, who don’t view education in the same way that we do – and that doesn’t make their education any less valid. You don’t need a smart phone and new technology to teach students – it just helps at times in a world that is so heavily reliant on technology. If we are to bring technology into each and every students’ lives across the globe, then we need to meet the needs of those students where they are culturally and be respectful of their understandings of education. Otherwise we are entering into technological colonialism.
Now, it is crucial to remain vigilant about the darker sides of technology. Just like
anything really, it can be used negatively. Large social media companies, for instance, can perpetuate harmful behaviors by shaping user identities through manufactured norms – like above; we don’t want to push Westernized ideals globally (again). We also need to realize that technology costs money – lots and lots of money. Not everyone has access to the most up-to-date technology (hello textbooks from the 60s) and by the time they get the “latest” its already old news (hello i-Phones). That being said, technology is still an important tool that is used to connect people and open doorways into new worlds and new information – we simply cannot say “well that’s too much money.” It’s an investment!
It’s all contingent. Technology can and should lead to a more equitable society but it is contingent on how we introduce, implement, and maintain that technology. Advances in technology and the use of technology in education allows for creativity, ideas, and critical insight to be shared in real time – and to help people in a variety of ways. Remembering that technology does not equal learning and education is really important here – you don’t need technology (I’m not talking about assistive technology for students with different needs, but computers and smart phones) to learn. You need an open mind, a good guide, and interest. Keeping that in mind, by staying culturally responsive and respectful we can hopefully include technologies for a more equitable society – globally. But there needs to be a bit of caution that we aren’t enforcing new Westernize social norms because we think that we know best. Continuous vigilance and thoughtful policies are necessary to ensure that technology fulfills its promise of equity.