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If we take these suggestions seriously, then academic educational technologists
could clearly be doing more throughout the course of their work than is often the
case at present. It could be argued that it is not good enough to do what this book
has done and simply document the inequalities of education and technology.
Instead, more effort could be made by academics to work actively on behalf of
those who are disadvantaged – what Michael Apple describes as acting as ‘secre-
taries’ for the interests of the disadvantaged. As such, there is also clear room for
academics to engage in more critical and disruptive forms of educational technology
scholarship – providing “a disruptive but necessary voice in democratic debate”
(Lauder et al. 2009, p.580). While these latter suggestions may appear either hope-
lessly romantic or overly self-important, they do touch upon the possibility that
academia offers a ready ‘way out’ of the hyperbole and a ready ‘way into’ the
complicated questions that need to be asked of educational technology. Because the
fields of education and technology are so bound up with the networks of infor-
mation, logistical imperatives and relationships that make up globalisation, then
there are perhaps few alternative spaces for those of us involved with educational
technology to think or act ‘outside’ the global system. From this perspective, then,
more work could be pursued within the academic study of educational technology
that challenges and tests the divisions between research and action. There is cer-
tainly space, therefore, for academics to undertake their educational technology
activities in a more critical manner – acting on a desire to foster and support issues
of empowerment, equality, social justice and participatory democracy (see Selwyn
2010, Selwyn and Facer 2013).

Conclusions
All of these suggestions point towards the need for a profound politicisation of
educational technology, and this is as good a place as any to conclude our analysis.
Suffice to say, educational technology is not something that should simply be ‘done’
to people around the world. Instead, everyone involved in the use of technology in
education (not just those who stand to gain most from it) needs to play active roles
in comprehending the limits and the possibilities of technology in education.
Moreover, everyone involved in the use of digital technology in education needs to
be involved in deciding what forms of educational technology take place, and for
what reasons. Educational technology the world over therefore needs to be reima-
gined and re-appropriated as an integral element of what Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan
(2008, p.114) describes as “an inclusive information society, which fosters equality
and participation and functions according to the need of human well-being [rather
than] the logic of commodification”. It is important that the alternative perspectives,
beliefs and values of those involved at the grass roots of education are more
prominently included in the development and implementation of educational
technologies around the world. It is therefore crucial that the voices of all
individuals in all countries are heard.