Reading Audrey Watters: A reflection on personalised learning via education technology through a decolonial lens

Reading Time: 6 minutes

The blogpost was written by Moizza Binat Sarwar for the EdTech Hub blog. The blogpost is available at the EdTech Hub under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. It is reposted here without any modifications.

At EdTech Hub, we’ve been reflecting on how coloniality is embedded in the work we do: from the colonial roots of the international development sector, to colonial practices embedded in research methods, to “core-to-periphery” design and deployment of EdTech interventions. We’ve just begun this journey, but in trying to embrace one of our EdTech Hub values of ‘fearless, humble learning’ we wanted to think out loud with you. This is the third in a long-form series exploring what it means to strive toward ‘Decolonising EdTech’. Thanks to Taskeen Adam for the conversation and comments. [You can find blog one and two here.]

The main objective of Watters’ book Teaching Machines: The history of personalised learning (2021) is to correct any misconceptions that EdTech today is ‘new’ and ‘shiny’ instead of an idea associated with technology used for imparting education as early as the 1890s. Drawing on Watter’s book and her ‘Hack Education’ blog, we are reflecting on elements of Watters’ historical take on personalised learning —  one specific aspect of EdTech —  and sharing five decolonial reflections on the current form and landscape of EdTech. We’re thinking out loud about how EdTech designs, products and implementations can assist in replicating features of colonial power and extraction if not consciously addressed. 

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