Presidential Invited Session: An Ed-Tech Tragedy? Revisiting the equity promises of Ed-Tech in the time of Covid-19

Group Submission Type: Presidential Invited Sessions

Description of Session

UNESCO will convene a panel to discuss ideas to better ensure educational technologies strengthen educational inclusion and equity. The panel will engage evidence and recommendations contained in a new 2023 UNESCO publication entitled ‘An Ed-Tech Tragedy: Revisiting the promises of educational technologies in the time of COVID-19’. Authors and guest speakers will consider the ripple effects of decisions to make education dependent on connected technology for much of 2020-2022 during school closures. They will also outline strategies to chart more promising directions for technology integration in the aftermath of the health crisis. In discussing key findings contained in the UNESCO publication, the panel seeks to kick-start more vigorous debate about the uses and misuses of connected technology in education. In concluding, the panel will share suggestions to help recalibrate education’s relationship with technology in order to buttress education as a human right and public endeavor that serves collective as well as individual interests.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Sobhi Tawil, UNESCO

Invited Speakers

• Sobhi Tawil, UNESCO

• Halla B Holmarsdottir, Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet)

• Mark West, UNESCO

• SHAFIKA ISAACS, University of Johannesburg

• Nathan M. Castillo, University of Illinois