Page 70 - Education in a Digital World

International Organisations 57

established educational community lacks expertise and experience. As Michelle
Selinger (2009, p.240) reasons:

For some this may look like the commodification and takeover of education
by global corporations, whereas others see it as an opportunity to put relevant
curricula into schools that provide students with some of the twenty-first
century skills not currently being provided by the formal education system. In
many cases the international private sector working with the local private
sector has also led to capacity development and growth of local companies,
and creating employment opportunities.

It should be noted, however, that Selinger writes from the position of working as
an educational director for Cisco. As has been illustrated above, there are many
other commentators who would disagree with her benevolent reading of the
involvement of private interests in the global governance of educational technology.
While suspicions of private interests getting involved in the educational technology
marketplace purely for the motivation of chasing the “possibility of super profits”
(Dean 2002, p.3) may be overly simplistic, the apparently non-commercial educa-
tional activities of major IT companies are clearly guided by an element of self-
interest as well as ‘social responsibility’ and altruism. At best, then, we can concur
with Daniel Menchik’s (2004, p.197) conclusion that “the line that separates
benevolent, authentic concern for student learning enrichment from self-interested
entrepreneurship [is] difficult to ascertain”.

Making Sense of the Involvement of International Organisations
in Educational Technology

While these various for-profit and non-profit international organisations may differ
in their specific agendas and approaches, they certainly exert a powerful influence
on the ways that educational technology is implemented and engaged with around
the world. Of course, it can be argued that the involvement of these international
and multinational actors is a welcome element in the support of educational tech-
nology growth around the world. As Bergeron (2008, p.352) reasons, it perhaps
makes little sense to deny the need for additional investment in any aspect of edu-
cation provision and practice “when education remains so woefully underfunded in
many locations”. Nevertheless, it is important for us to retain a critical distance
when considering the aims, interests and agendas that underlie the seemingly benign
actions of these public and private international organisations. It is perhaps most
important to recognise that these organisations are not acting independently of one
another. Instead, in fully understanding the influence of these organisations on
the nature of educational technology around the world we need to acknowledge
the considerable interplay and interchange amongst these groups in terms of ideas,
values, agendas and even personnel.