POST-COVID-19 EDUCATION AND EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY “SOLUTIONISM”: A SELLER’S MARKET

Öz

The Covid-19 pandemic and the social distancing that followed have affected all walks of society, also education. In order to keep education running, educational institutions have had to quickly adapt to the situation. This has resulted in an unprecedented push to online learning. Many, including commercial digital learning platform providers, have rushed to provide their support and ‘solutions’, sometimes for free. The Covid-19 pandemic has therefore also created a sellers’ market in ed-tech. This paper employs a critical lens to reflect on the possible problems arising from hasty adoption of commercial digital learning solutions whose design might not always be driven by best pedagogical practices but their business model that leverages user data for profitmaking. Moreover, already before Covid-19, there has been increasing critique of how ed-tech is redefining and reducing concepts of teaching and learning. The paper also challenges the narrative that claims, ‘education is broken, and it should and can be fixed with technology’. Such technologization, often seen as neutral, is closely related to educationalization, i.e. imposing growing societal problems for education to resolve. Therefore, this is a critical moment to reflect how the current choices educational institutions are making might affect with Covid-19 education and online learning: Will they reinforce capitalist instrumental view of education or promote holistic human growth? This paper urges educational leaders to think carefully about the decisions they are currently making and if they indeed pave the way to a desirable future of education.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Covid-19
• Critical Pedagogy
• Education Technology
• Technologization
• Ivan Illich

Post-Covid-19, Eğitim ve Eğitim Teknolojisindeki “Çözümcülük”: Satıcı Piyasası

Öz

Covid-19 salgını ve beraberinde gelişen sosyal mesafe, eğitim dahil olmak üzere toplumun tüm kurumlarında etkisini gösterirken özellikle eğitim kurumunun, devam etme gerekliliğinden ötürü, pandemi koşullarına hızla uyum sağlaması gerekiyordu. Bu noktada çevrimiçi eğitim/öğrenme daha önce eşi benzeri görülmemiş bir ilgi ile karşılandı. Çoğu ticari dijital öğrenme platformu sağlayıcılarının da desteği ile “çözüm”e yönelik, genellikle ücretsiz erişim hakkına sahip, pek çok çevrimiçi tabanlı kurum ve kuruluşlar kuruldu ve hızla harekete geçirildi. Bu nedenle Covid-19 salgını, eğitim teknolojisinde bir satıcı piyasasının da önünü açmış oldu. Elinizdeki çalışma, tasarımı her zaman en iyi pedagojik uygulamalarla değil, kâr elde etmek için kullanıcı verilerini kullanan iş modelleriyle yönlendirilen, dijital öğrenme çözümlerinin ticari kaygılarla ve aceleyle benimsenmesinden kaynaklanan olası sorunlara kritik bir mercekten bakmayı amaçlamaktadır. Dahası, yeni eğitim teknolojisinin, Covid-19'dan önce, öğretme ve öğrenme kavramlarını nasıl yeniden tanımladığı ve indirgediğine dair artan eleştirilere de açıklık getirmeye çalışılacaktır. Makalemiz ayrıca “Eğitim bir çöküşte ve teknoloji ile düzeltilmesi gerekiyor/düzeltilebilir.” iddialarına da meydan okumaktadır. Genellikle tarafsızmış gibi görünen bu tür bir teknolojileştirme, -eğitimin çözmesi için büyüyen sosyal problemleri kendi bünyesine empoze etmek gibi- pek çok bakımdan pedogoglar, öğretmenler ve bizzat eğitim kurumunun kendisi ile yakından ilişkilidir. Bu nedenle, eğitim kurumlarının yaptığı mevcut seçimlerin Covid-19 eğitimi ve çevrimiçi öğrenmeyi nasıl etkileyebileceği noktası artık oldukça kritik bir andadır: Eğitim kurumları kapitalist araçsal eğitim görüşünü güçlendirecek mi yoksa bütüncül insan büyümesini teşvik edecek mi? Hazırlamış olduğumuz makale, eğitim liderlerini şu anda aldıkları kararlar ve gerçekten arzu edilen bir eğitim geleceğine giden yolu açıp açmadıkları konusunda dikkatlice düşünmeye teşvik etmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Covid-19
• Eleştirel Pedagoji
• Eğitim Teknolojileri
• Teknolojileştirme
• Ivan Illich

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