On 12 October 2018 I wrote an article stating that I have grave doubts about governments getting involved in ed tech initiatives because, somehow, they usually mess them up, or at least the initiatives don’t work. The government nevertheless trumpets how successful they’ve been — I suspect the press releases are prepared in advance — and life goes on in much the same way as before. 

Here we are, two years later, and the government recently announced that laptops would be provided to disadvantaged kids.

In spite of the best intentions, or perhaps because of them, governments fail to implement anything properly. One can only point to the COVID-19 pandemic’s handling by the Republican administration in the United States, the sometimes less than positive support of #NotUntilItIsSafe for teachers in Texas schools. That aside, allow me to shoehorn this definition of decolonizing curriculum since it appears systems we have in place have caused concern:

Should we be surprised that people of color have found themselves the primary sufferers of policies that never delivered what was promised?

Access to instructional materials and technology for students and teachers can impact the quality of education as well as students’ ability to engage with digital resources outside the classroom. Technology and other instructional materials support teachers in properly delivering, enhancing and personalizing the curriculum. 

Access to these important instructional resources varies between high-poverty schools that are heavily populated with students of color and more affluent schools serving fewer students of color (Source)

Is what Terry observes a conscious decision by the colonizers? Or perhaps, an unconscious, institutionalized, systemic way of keeping people of color at a step lower than those who are more affluent? Let’s take a look at a simple explanation of the subject of decolonizing edtech:

Decolonisation is now used to talk about restorative justice through cultural, psychological and economic freedom. In most countries where colonisers remain, Indigenous people still don’t hold significant positions of power or self-determination. (Source)

The authors of the piece above go onto say:

Colonisation is more than physical. It is also cultural and psychological in determining whose knowledge is privileged. In this, colonisation not only impacts the first generation colonised but creates enduring issues.

Decolonisation seeks to reverse and remedy this through direct action and listening to the voices of First Nations people.

How do you decolonize edtech?

Edtech can offer new opportunities for students to create and express ideas that transcend differences in economic and political power, but these are contingent upon use that prioritizes perspectives and values that may differ from those held by many educators and technology developers. Students from low-income households benefit when they can discover their voices and critically examine poverty’s relationship to both education and technology. 

In order to empower these students, educators and technology developers must encourage the development of epistemic agency as well as the capacity to build and share knowledge – important precursors to participation in decision-making processes related to education policy, curriculum, and learning goals. (Source)

Isn’t that the problem? Students in low-income households remain trapped in a system that robs them of their voice and power. How can they push back?

…many students from low-income households struggle to learn within school environments that embody “injustice, exploitation, oppression, and the violence of the oppressors.”17 (In this paper, “oppressors” refers to the overlapping influence of people and institutions that exert their collective power, intentionally or unintentionally, in a manner that restricts students’ freedoms.) 

These conditions have also been described as “colonization of the mind” – a process that seeks to limit critical consciousness.18 At school, the effect is crystallized as “classroom colonialism,” through which students from low-income households are “confronted by curriculum that is blind to their realities and school rules that seek to erase their culture.”19  

This phenomenon is perpetuated when those in power overlook or actively avoid opportunities to “learn from and about the communities in which they will make their livelihood.”20 (Source)

Much to learn about this, and I’m off to read Stephen Downes’ response. What is most exciting is the question, “What if we could decolonize how we approach edtech, technology distribution, etc.? Is such a thing possible?” 

Disclaimer: This blog entry was written rather quickly, in between grocery deliveries, as I’m self-quarantined in my home due to a failure of the US President and his cronies to deal with COVID-19, resulting in the deaths of over 214K Americans. I l

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