This week on TeachLab, host Justin Reich is joined by S. Craig Watkins, professor at the University of Texas at Austin and a respected voice on digital media and youth culture. Together they discuss the affordances and limitations of technology in education and the digital divide created as technology becomes a staple in the classroom.
“What struck me is even as I came into the project aware of these ideas around the digital divide and the tech rich and the tech poor, the haves and the have-nots, when we subscribe to that view with no other considerations and in a very one-dimensional way, we end up imposing a kind of deficit narrative on those who we see as occupying the wrong side of the divide. That is to say we only see them, right, through lack. Lack of access to technology, lack of educational opportunities, lack of interest, lack of motivation, lack of this kind of capital, that kind of capital.”
-S. Craig Watkins
In this episode we’ll talk about:
- S. Craig Watkins’ edtech story: Using technology in the educational setting
- The digital divide
- Early adopters of mobile technology
- How classes and curriculum can stifle the creativity the technology introduces
- How the pandemic changes and doesn’t change edtech
Resources and Links
Check out Young People’s Transitions into Creative Work: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities
Check out Justin Reich’s new book Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can’t Transform Education
Transcript
https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/s-craig-watkins/transcript
Produced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley
Recorded and mixed by Garrett Beazley
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