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PODCAST

Education Technology Society

Casting a critical eye over the world of digital education, education futures and EdTech.Join Neil Selwyn as he talks to experts from around the world committed to new ways of thinking about digital technology and education

technology social sciences

All Episodes

19:56

Fostering autonomy in the platformised classroom

Education Technology Society ·

2025/10/21

Niels Kerssens (Utrecht University) joins us to talk about the concept of 'platformisation' that came out of Utecht led by Jose Van Dijck in the 2010 and how this is now coming to bear on the classrooms and schools of 2025 We also talk about Niels’ new concept of ‘digital autonomy innovators’ and the growing demand for more collaborative and non-corporate forms of ed-tech. Accompanying reference >>> Kerssens, N. & van Es, K. (2025). Fostering autonomy in the digital c...

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19:15

Should teachers use AI to write emails to parents?

Education Technology Society ·

2025/10/01

AI tools are now being sold with the promise of doing all sorts of routine tasks for teachers. We talk to Brad Robinson (Texas State University) about one such tool – MagicSchool AI – and the growing temptation for teachers to let GenAI do their work for them. Accompanying reference >>> Robinson, B. & Leander, K. (2025). ‘I hope this email finds you well’: how synthetic affect circulates through MagicSchool AI. Learning, Media and Technology, 1-13

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23:38

Techno-solutionism in education

Education Technology Society ·

2025/09/11

Why does education keep falling for techno-solutionism, despite the fact that technology does not seem to drastically improve education? Ezechiel Thibaud (The Education University of Hong Kong) guides us through the underpinning causes of techno-solutionism in education and stresses the need to better acknowledge the disappointments of digital education. Accompanying reference >>> Thibaud, E. (2025). Reflections on techno-solutionism in education: Manifestations and...

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20:17

Schools, datafication and the rise of EdTech...

Education Technology Society ·

2025/06/10

Schools are increasingly reliant on data infrastructures and platforms – leading to the growing significance of various ‘intermediary actors’ now playing key roles in the governance of digital education. Sigrid Hartong (Helmut-Schmidt-University Hamburg) joins us to talk about this fast changing aspect of ed-tech. Accompanying reference >>> Hartong, S., Geiss, M. & Röhl, T. (2024). Intermediaries and the digital transformation of schooling: an introduction...

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18:34

Digital disinformation in the age of AI … what can...

Education Technology Society ·

2025/05/26

The growth of deliberately misleading and false information is one of the big concerns of the 2020s. Professor Olof Sundin (Lund University) has been researching students’ (dis)information literacy since the early 2000s. He joins us to talk about the latest developments in this area – particularly the trend of now using AI to both produce *and* retrieve information. Accompanying reference >>> Haider, J. & Sundin, O. (2022). Paradoxes of media and information literacy: The c...

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17:42

AI and the digital future(s) of universities

Education Technology Society ·

2025/05/12

Where are universities going with digitisation and AI, and how does this fit with the views of staff and students? Dr. Magda Pischetola (University of Copenhagen) talks about her recent research into university policymaking around GenAI, and a survey of university teachers’ desired digital futures. Accompanying reference >>> Driessens, O. & Pischetola, M. (2024). Danish university policies on generative AI: Problems, assumptions and sustainability blind sp...

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22:00

Korea is pushing AI into schools … where might this...

Education Technology Society ·

2025/04/23

Last year the Korean government announced its substantial commitment to AI and schools, launching an ‘AI Digital Textbook’ policy that promises to establish AI-driven customised learning across the education system. We are joined by Dr. Jina Ro (Sungkyunkwan University) to make sense of Korea’s recent ed-tech turn, and the wider motivations for investing so heavily in the promise of AI transforming traditional schooling. Accompanying reference >>> Jina Ro (2025): En...

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19:39

Getting Google out of Danish schools?

Education Technology Society ·

2025/04/02

2022 saw a flurry of reports that the Danish Data Protection Agency was ordering schools to stop using Google products over the tech firm’s misuse of students’ personal data. We talk to Emilie Mørch Groth (Aarhus University) to see what has happened since, what this controversy tells us about the digital dependency of the modern welfare state, and the complexities of pushing back against Big Tech corporations. Accompanying reference >>> Morgan Meaker (2022). A Danis...

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15:55

The digital transformation of higher education … for...

Education Technology Society ·

2025/03/22

On the face of it, digital technologies are now integral to university teaching and learning. But to what extent have things actually changed … and are these changes wholly positive? Cathrine Tømte (University of Agder) talks about the impacts of digitisation on Norwegian universities, and why teachers and students should perhaps be joining forces to push for radically different technologies. Accompanying reference >>> Rómulo Pinheiro, Cathrine Tømte, Linda Barman, ...

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23:05

The cruel optimism of EdTech

Education Technology Society ·

2025/03/07

Platforms are now an almost ubiquitous feature of schools. We talk with Lucas Cone (University of Copenhagen) about his work around teachers’ everyday engagements with platforms – in particular the benefits of using affect theory to make sense of teachers’ affiliations and relationships with these clearly problematic technologies. Accompanying reference >>> Lucas Cone (2024) Subscribing school: digital platforms, affective attachments, and cruel optimism in a Danish...

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15:15

What is ‘critical’ in critical studies of edtech?

Education Technology Society ·

2025/02/09

There is growing interest in critical studies of education and technology. But what does it mean to be ‘critical’ of edtech, and how can this work genuinely make a difference in the world? Felicitas Macgilchrist (Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg) talks about the need to look beyond claims of transformation and novelty, drawing attention to marginalised forms of edtech, and the power of rageful hope. Accompanying reference >>> Macgilchrist, F. (2021). W...

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14:27

What do ed-tech policymakers want from academic...

Education Technology Society ·

2025/01/28

Academics are increasingly looking to make an impact on policymakers, but critical ed-tech research often seems to fall on deaf ears. In this episode Dr. Cristóbal Cobo – currently a senior ed-tech specialist at a major international organization – talks about the types of evidence that get most attention in policy circles, and some approaches that might help critical researchers get their messages through. Accompanying reference >>> Cristóbal Cobo (2019). "I Accept ...

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15:15

Reading in the digital age

Education Technology Society ·

2025/01/11

Digital books are now a common part of education, but concerns are growing around the problems of students reading on-screen.Marte Blikstad-Balas (University of Oslo) discusses the latest research around what it means to read on-screen as opposed to reading from ‘proper’ books, and why government bans on digital devices are not the best response.Accompanying reference >>> Jensen, R., Roe, A. & Blikstad-Balas, M. (2024). The smell of paper or the shine of a screen? Students’ readi...

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17:28

Australia thinks that it can ban young people from...

Education Technology Society ·

2024/12/09

The Australian government has just announced that it will ban all young people under the age of 16 from using social media.Dr. Clare Southerton explains the background to this ‘ban’ and what it might mean for students and schools.Recommended reading >>> Lisa Given (2024). Australia’s social media ban for kids under 16 just became law. How it will work remains a mystery. The Conversation, 28th November.

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20:13

‘Nudging’ students to do the right thing

Education Technology Society ·

2024/12/03

Digital technologies are now a key means of ‘nudging’ students (and teachers) to make better decisions. Mathias Decuypere (PHZH) talks about the coming together of behavioural economics thinking and digital education, and how critical ed-tech scholars should be looking for alternate ways of working with this concept of the ‘edunudge’. Accompanying reference >>> Mathias Decuypere & Sigrid Hartong (2023) Edunudge. Learning, Media and Technology, 48(1):138-152

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19:27

The challenges of studying in the ‘platformised’...

Education Technology Society ·

2024/11/23

University life is now increasingly mediated by digital platforms. Joe Noteboom’s research looks at the everyday realities of studying through platforms, and how students’ dependence on these technologies can lead to a number of problems and vulnerabilities. Accompanying reference >>> Joe Noteboom (2024): The student as user: mapping student experiences of platformisation in higher education, Learning, Media and Technology, DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2024.2414055

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19:18

Raising a generation of techno-skeptical students

Education Technology Society ·

2024/10/29

Dan Krutka (University of North Texas) is on a mission to support students, teachers and parents to think critically and make informed decisions about the digital tech in their lives.Dan talks about the idea of the ‘Technoskepticism Iceberg’ as a framework to identify the technical, psychosocial and political dimensions of technology.Accompanying reference >>> Pleasants, J., Krutka, D., & Nichols, T. (2023). What relationships do we want with technology? Toward technoskepti...

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16:14

Students ‘cheating’ with Generative AI

Education Technology Society ·

2024/10/06

Two years on from the initial panic around Chat GPT and student cheating we catch with Phill Dawson from Deakin’s ‘Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning’.Phill reflects on what universities have got wrong in their responses to GenAI, and why this might be a good time to entirely rethink the notion of student assessment altogether.Accompanying reference >>> Bearman, M., Tai, J., Dawson, P., Boud, D., & Ajjawi, R. (2024). Developing evaluative judgement for a...

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18:59

What’s the problem with Google Classroom?

Education Technology Society ·

2024/09/12

We talk with Sonia Livingstone (LSE) about the ways in which EdTech and data protection policies often fail to protect children’s rights at school. In particular we look at Google Classroom as an example of how policymakers, regulators and governments need to intervene more forcibly in the EdTech marketplace. Accompanying reference >>> Livingstone, S., Pothong, K., Atabey, A., Hooper, L., & Day, E. (2024). The Googlization of the classroom: Is the UK in protecting...

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18:15

‘Digital natives’ … the concept that refuses to die

Education Technology Society ·

2024/06/10

Pekka Mertala (University of Oulu) talks about a new exhaustive analysis of nearly 1900 articles that charts the evolving use of the ‘digital native’ concept in academic literature. We talk about the history of the idea of ‘digital natives’, why the persistence of the idea is damaging, and how we need to actively campaign against its future use.** this is the final episode of Season One of ETS ... we will return in September! ** Accompanying reference >>> Mertala, P.,...

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36 results

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