Page 25 - Education in a Digital World

12 Developing a Global Perspective

profound influence of the growth of digital technologies – not least computing tech-
nologies, telecommunications networks and the internet. Indeed, all of the recent
processes of globalisation just described are entwined with the parallel development of
information and communication technologies. In fact it may not be too far-fetched
to state that many – if not all – of the recent ‘global’ changes and shifts described so
far in this chapter are in some way reliant on digital technology and media – from
the presence of US-led international armed forces in countries such as Afghanistan to
the worldwide proliferation of the Disney brand. As Chakravartty and Sarikakis
(2006, p.21) assert, digital technologies are both ‘the nervous system’ and ‘the carrier’
of many of the changes and shifts associated with the globalised information society.
In seeking to make sense of any aspect of contemporary globalised life,
one therefore has to give careful consideration to technology-based processes and
technology-based outcomes. Much of what has been just discussed in this chapter
relates to technology-based processes, such as integration of the world economy and
financial markets through telecommunications networks, the internationalisation of
trade, communication and interaction through the internet, and so on. Much
of what was discussed in earlier sections of this chapter with regard to work and
employment also relates to technology-based (or at least technology-related)
processes – not least the growth of technology-dependent employment and jobs.
Indeed, as far as many commentators are concerned one of the most significant
aspects of digital technology is the spectre of what economists refer to as ‘technological
bias’– i.e. the tendency that “at the same time that new technologies eliminate
some jobs through automation they create new higher skilled employment and
up-skill existing jobs” (Brown et al. 2008, p.132). In this sense, both technology
and education are integral aspects of the increasingly globalised nature of
contemporary society. It is against these wider concerns that the specific case
of educational technology now needs to be considered.

The Significance of Education and Technology in a
Globalised World
As should by now be clear, a strong case can be made for the centrality of digital
technologies in the on-going globalisations of contemporary education. Indeed,
contemporary education is entwined with a range of globalised processes that are
predicated upon the use of digital technology. Education can therefore be seen as
encompassing many of the issues outlined so far throughout this chapter – not least
a confluence of digital technologies, ideas, institutions, knowledge and skills.
One key issue that now needs to be addressed is identifying the global educational
processes that digital technologies are most associated with and, most importantly,
considering how can we gain a sense of the ways in which they are ‘globalised’.
Of course, there is a growing body of literature on the globalised nature of
education. As far as some authors are concerned, there have been a large number of
undeniably international and transnational shifts in education (see, for example,