AERC Hosts: Dr Louise Couceiro "Insights from the University of Oxford: Towards equity-focused EdTech"

Towards equity-focused EdTech: A socio-technical approach is a collaboration between the Department of Education and the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. Funded by the ESRC and led by Professor Rebecca Eynon, the project explores the relationships between equity, technology, and teaching and learning in secondary schools. There is a lot of hope that using technologies in schools can reduce inequalities for young people, yet we know very little about how technology is actually used for teaching and learning. This project uses in-depth ethnography to explore the everyday realities for schools, and works with key stakeholders to shape future equity-focused approaches to EdTech.

In this seminar, Dr Louise Couceiro will share insights from the ethnographic work, focusing on two key areas. First, how technologies reconfigure rather than straightforwardly save teachers’ time, and second, the tensions between how technology is used in everyday classroom practice and its role within assessment contexts. The seminar will provide an opportunity to engage in discussions on the use of technologies in schools and how this relates to ideas about equity and educational opportunities, and to think collaboratively about future possibilities for technology use in education.