Page 37 - Education in a Digital World

24 Theoretical Approaches

Similarly, national governments, state organisations and other aspects of the ‘policy
community’ also play important roles. Perhaps less obviously, educational technol-
ogy is an arena where the actions of these local and national interests are entwined
with the interests of ‘supranational’ and ‘intergovernmental’ organisations such as
the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations and so on.
Aside from these august institutions, education technology is also obviously depen-
dent upon the actions of industry and commerce – not least the large number of
multinational corporations and local companies involved in the development,
manufacturing and marketing of IT products and services. These industrial and
commercial actors are complemented by other private sector interests such as banks
and financers, employers, philanthropic foundations and other commercial interests
seeking to influence education for a variety of purposes. In terms of educational
technology use in poorer nations and regions, it is also necessary to consider the
interests of various non-governmental organisations, charities, donor agencies and
other non-profit organisations. Clearly, then, any ‘global’ analysis of educational
technology will encompass a large number of involved parties.
In order to construct a detailed account of educational technology along these
expanded lines, we need to move beyond the established concerns and preoccupa-
tions of most other writers and researchers working in this field. This means doing
more than simply asking abstract questions of how digital technologies could or
should be used in educational settings, or speculating on the potential of technology
to change learning. Instead, this means taking a deliberately critical approach that
approaches the topic of education and technology in relational terms. As Michael
Apple (2010) reminds us, the relational approach involves producing accounts that
situate educational technology within the unequal relations of power elsewhere in
society, within the realities of dominance and subordination, and within the con-
flicts that are generated by these relations. This is clearly a difficult step for many
technology commentators to take. Yet instead of being distracted by our own
(often privileged) personal experiences of digital technology we need to work
instead towards understanding and acting on educational technology in terms of its
complicated and often unjust connections to the larger society. In short, as Robins
and Webster (2002, p.6) argue, we need to develop “a more sociologically groun-
ded narrative of change”. This, then, will be the approach that shall be pursued
throughout the remainder of this book.

Education and Technology: The Need for Theoretically
Informed Approaches
Given these intentions, we now need to develop a set of theoretical and metho-
dological approaches suitable for the critical analysis of education, technology and
globalisation. Of course, educational technology is not a field of academic study
renowned for its theoretical ambition or rigour. At best, educational technology has
developed into a field of study dominated by social psychological perspectives on