Digitalisation of education in Latin America and the Caribbean: ruptures and continuities

• In Event: Reclaiming public education: The movement to defend a sustainable, just and human future for all

Proposal

In the last two decades, digitalisation has rapidly penetrated different spheres of social life, producing ruptures and continuities. In education, its entry was particularly intense during the pandemic, exacerbating old types of stratifications and segregations, creating new ones, such as the technological divides, and intensifying privatization.

Arguing that it was necessary to quickly find solutions to avoid disruptions in educational trajectories, large technology corporations “offered” States their multiple educational tools. Under an apparent neutrality, the corporations signed non-transparent agreements to provide electronic devices, platforms, school management programmes and teacher and student assessment throughout the LAC region.

Within a few months, from an initial free offer, the companies gained millions of new users, markets and future profits, and improved their image. In addition, they became responsible for controlling the digital infrastructure of public education, increasing the dependence of the public sector on the private sector.

A survey developed by the Observatorio de la Educación Vigiada revealed that in South America, 79% of 448 public universities use emails from Google and Microsoft. Universities stopped developing their own technologies and started storing the scientific knowledge produced on private platforms with little state regulation. In basic education the process also took place, although there is still not much research available on the subject.

The massification of educational platforms not only is concerning because it makes access to technologies subject to market interests and intensifies technology gaps, but also because technologies produce subjectivities. New generations are now tending to learn how to read and write in a single environment, being dependent on them. Furthermore, some research is starting to show how these corporate tools lead students to interpret the world in a single way, based on the ideas such as human capital, entrepreneurship, individualism, meritocracy, technocratic, utilitarianism and economicism – which is limiting.

Another point of concern is the students, teachers and other education professionals’ data mining through these platforms. Students remain in the education system for more than a decade. Through these platforms, it is possible to capture and manipulate a staggering amount of information that we do not know how it is being used.

But technology should not be demonised or, on the contrary, taken as "the" great solution to educational problems. Technology is a socio-technical tool, which must respond to the aspirations of societies. In this sense, the dilemma is not to digitise or not to digitise... it is why, what for, how, to what extent?

As such, this panel will provide not only a critical reflection on digitalization of education, but also new ways to use technology to transform free public inclusive education for all, contributing to mitigate conditions of injustice and inequality in which the vast majority of our populations live in the LAC continent. This involves ensuring free quality connectivity, regulating infrastructure and making the internet an essential public service, stimulating public-, community- or public-community-management. In addition, developing critical digital literacy processes, exploring new platforms and using open source-technological resources as pedagogical tools to produce knowledge.

Author

• Laura Mariana Giannecchini, CLADE