Page 33 - Education in a Digital World

20 Developing a Global Perspective

useful means of highlighting clusters of issues for investigation and consideration
rather than fool-proof blueprints for the future of the world (Lyon 1988). In this
spirit, all of the ideas outlined in this chapter have proved useful in pointing us
towards salient areas of questioning for the remainder of the book. In particular,
four broad strands of the globalisation, knowledge economy and information age
debates appear to be of overriding interest and importance – i.e. the economic,
political, social and cultural aspects of educational technology around the world.
In brief, then, our concerns as grouped under these terms are as follows:

Economic: How exactly are educational technologies linked to issues of
global economics and the fortunes of global economies? How is the human
capital imperative for highly skilled workforces shaping the nature and form of
educational technology around the world? To what extent is educational tech-
nology part of “an effort to impose particular economic and political agendas
that benefit wealthy and rich nations at the expense of the world’s poor” (Spring
2009, p.13)?
Political: How are ‘international’ shifts in educational technology refracted
through national policies and processes? How exactly are global issues received
and acted upon at national and subnational levels? How are new (transnational)
ideas and initiatives relating to educational technology layered over already
existing strata of (national and local) educational discourses, practices and insti-
tutions? What are the different dynamics of interaction between the global,
national and local levels? What evidence is there for a ‘vernacular globalisation’
of educational technology – i.e. the ways in which local sites and their histories,
cultures, politics and pedagogies mediate (to a greater or lesser extent) the effects
of top-down globalisation (Ngo et al. 2006)?
Social: Where can educational technology be said to be socially or spatially
uneven? Which countries, communities and contexts stand to gain most from
educational technologies? How are educational technologies used in the poorest
and least economically developed parts of the world? What is the role of indi-
vidual learners and educators – i.e. are they simply passive participants or subjects
of globalised forms of educational technology? What agency do individuals have
and enact in their engagement with educational technology? What ideological
agendas and values are attached to educational technology – i.e. to what extent
does digital technology broaden, deepen and accelerate the commercialisation,
marketisation and commodification of education?
Cultural: To what extent does educational technology reinforce or challenge
dominant global and local beliefs about teaching and learning? How are educa-
tional technologies shaped by global and local understandings of language or
religion? To what extent is educational technology implemented in a culturally
sensitive manner? To what extent does educational technology represent
the imposition of a dominant culture – be it a homogeneous ‘global culture’,
commercial culture or ‘Americanised’ culture?