TY - GEN
T1 - Analysis of the impact of educational technology on social inequity in the united states
AU - Darmawaskita, Nicole
AU - McDaniel, Troy
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. 1828010).
Publisher Copyright:
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - The desire to improve and modernize education through educational technology is met with a daunting wall, as educational technologies oftentimes reflect and exacerbate social inequities. This work explores the growth in United States’ educational inequity stemming from the interdependent relationships between education, the digital divide, and social inequities. Diving into three case studies, this paper addresses the privatization consequences that result from the disproportionate funding barriers that schools in marginalized communities face in purchasing Smart Boards, as well as the dangerous impacts of SMART Technologies’ techno-solutionist marketing in worsening educational inequities. In comparison, massive open online courses (MOOCs), which are designed with the goal of improving education equity, appear to circumvent the funding barriers that Smart Boards provide, but fail to address the more tailored educational needs of marginalized communities – ultimately landing at the same fate as that of Smart Boards in worsening educational inequities. Lastly, this paper investigates reading software related to improving education for students with reading issues and blind students. Massively popular and effective in helping these students be more engaged and independent in reading, reading software is overall successful in creating a positive push toward educational equity. However, individual reading software can easily fall to the same failures of Smart Boards and MOOCs in contributing to educational inequity. Although improving educational equity requires a holistic approach, from a technology design standpoint, the following recommendations are made: (a) develop educational technology with the goals of improving education quality and equity, (b) circumvent as many barriers as possible to technology access through technology design, (c) work with marginalized communities to truly understand their needs and create a technology they will use, and (d) continue work toward equitable educational technology.
AB - The desire to improve and modernize education through educational technology is met with a daunting wall, as educational technologies oftentimes reflect and exacerbate social inequities. This work explores the growth in United States’ educational inequity stemming from the interdependent relationships between education, the digital divide, and social inequities. Diving into three case studies, this paper addresses the privatization consequences that result from the disproportionate funding barriers that schools in marginalized communities face in purchasing Smart Boards, as well as the dangerous impacts of SMART Technologies’ techno-solutionist marketing in worsening educational inequities. In comparison, massive open online courses (MOOCs), which are designed with the goal of improving education equity, appear to circumvent the funding barriers that Smart Boards provide, but fail to address the more tailored educational needs of marginalized communities – ultimately landing at the same fate as that of Smart Boards in worsening educational inequities. Lastly, this paper investigates reading software related to improving education for students with reading issues and blind students. Massively popular and effective in helping these students be more engaged and independent in reading, reading software is overall successful in creating a positive push toward educational equity. However, individual reading software can easily fall to the same failures of Smart Boards and MOOCs in contributing to educational inequity. Although improving educational equity requires a holistic approach, from a technology design standpoint, the following recommendations are made: (a) develop educational technology with the goals of improving education quality and equity, (b) circumvent as many barriers as possible to technology access through technology design, (c) work with marginalized communities to truly understand their needs and create a technology they will use, and (d) continue work toward equitable educational technology.
KW - Access to education and learning
KW - And user experience
KW - Digital divide
KW - Educational inequity
KW - Educational technology
KW - Educational technology integration
KW - Evaluation of accessibility
KW - Usability
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U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-78095-1_4
DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-78095-1_4
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85117915922
SN - 9783030780944
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 41
EP - 51
BT - Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Access to Media, Learning and Assistive Environments - 15th International Conference, UAHCI 2021, Held as Part of the 23rd HCI International Conference, HCII 2021, Proceedings
A2 - Antona, Margherita
A2 - Stephanidis, Constantine
PB - Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
T2 - 15th International Conference on Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction, UAHCI 2021, held as part of the 23rd International Conference, HCI International 2021
Y2 - 24 July 2021 through 29 July 2021
ER -