Page 64 - Education in a Digital World

International Organisations 51

As such, many of the educational technology activities described above constitute
attempts on the part of these international organisations to advance their agendas
through voluntary rather than regulatory means. In this sense, many of these orga-
nisations’ educational technology initiatives and programmes are perhaps best
understood as attempts to establish standardised and harmonised ‘ground-rules’ and
ways of ‘doing’ educational technology within nation states and their education
systems. Thus, it could be argued that these organisations’ activities are underpinned
by a speculative expectation of the increased use of digital technology within educa-
tional systems around the world contributing “to a global uniformity of educational
policies and practices” (Spring 2009, p.206).

The Role of Educational Technology in the Activities of
Transnational and Multinational Corporations

Of course, these SNOs and IGOs are able rarely to orchestrate change of their own
accord. Indeed, one of the key roles of SNOs and IGOs within the global politics
of educational technology is in stimulating, supporting and guiding the actions of
other actors. An organisation such as the OECD, for example, spends a great deal of
time co-ordinating the actions of other interested parties such as national and
regional governments, NGOs, academic researchers and educational administrators.
These actors are all brought together through OECD-sponsored meetings, forums,
publications and reports, research projects and other collaborative activities and
dissemination events. Thus while working ostensibly on behalf of national govern-
ments, organisations such as the OECD play a particularly significant role in making
and sustaining connections between public and private interests – in particular the
major corporate interests in the global economy and the global IT marketplace. It
is, therefore, appropriate that we turn our attention to the educational technology
activities of these corporate actors in their own right.
Although usually overlooked in academic discussions of educational technology,
it is important to recognise the influence of commercial and private actors. If
nothing else, the design, production and sale of digital technology hardware and
software to education is almost wholly dependent on commercial interests, most
notably the many transnational and multinational IT companies responsible for
supplying computer hardware, software, connectivity and ‘content’. Private interests
also sell a range of technology-based services to educators and educational institutions –
such as IT training, technical support, systems management and other advisory ser-
vices. The for-profit sector also plays a key role in the continued promotion of the
notion of ‘educational technology’ in order to sustain demand for educational use
of digital technologies. In all these instances, the nature, form and governance of
digital technology use in education are being influenced by the involvement
of commercial firms and other private sector interests.
Of course, in purely financial terms the significance of private sector involvement
in the global educational market for technology is clear. For instance the worldwide