SOLUTIONS, EDUCATION AND EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY POST-COVID-19

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic and the social distancing that followed have had an impact on all walks of life, including the world of education. In order for education to continue, educational institutions must quickly adapt to the situation. This has resulted in an unprecedented push for online learning. Many, including providers of commercial digital learning platforms, rush to provide their support and 'solutions', sometimes free of charge. Therefore, the Covid-19 pandemic has also created a seller market in ed-tech. This paper uses a critical lens to reflect on the possible problems arising from the hasty adoption of commercial digital learning solutions whose designs may not necessarily be driven by best pedagogical practices but their business models that leverage user data to generate profits. Moreover, already before Covid-19, there has been increasing criticism of how ed-tech is redefining and reducing the concept of teaching and learning. The paper also challenges the narrative that claims, 'education is broken, and it must and can be fixed with technology'. Such technology, which is often considered neutral, is closely related to education, that is, it imposes developing social problems to be solved by education. Therefore, this is a critical moment to determine how today's choices made by educational institutions can affect Covid-19 online education and learning: Will they reinforce the capitalist instrumental view of education or promote holistic human growth? This paper urges educators to think carefully about the decisions they are making today and if they are indeed paving the way for the future of education they desire. Historically, pandemics have forced humans to decide on the past and imagine their new world. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudices and hatreds, our greed, our dead databases and ideas, dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.