Technology and Education Today

This essay probes the delusion that technology and education commonly tend to generate by projecting visions of transformation. Recognising that the total change they promise needs to be examined through extended social categories, the essay uses Ursula Franklin’s idea of the ‘real’ world of technology and investigates the implications of digitally-led education. Three spheres—work, knowledge and ethics—are identified for a focussed enquiry so as to obtain a critical view of the relationship between technology and education today. This enquiry enables us to grasp the political economy of technology-led educational planning. A brief attempt is made to indicate how the pervasive promotion of digital devices in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced institutionalised education.