W6, Seiter:Technology for Companies or for Education

I thought that Seiter hit the nail on the head regarding the field of cyber education.  She said, “There are powerful economic interests behind the promotion of hardware and software in educational institutions at all levels”. As she said, the problem is not about the ability of children to learn about technology if given high quality support or about the critical aspects of new media environment. The problem is the effects on public education of inequality which is focused on the top which accompanies the digital advancement. Home technology divide is so obvious in different areas of schools depending on their funding types, for example. Also, there has been a huge gap between the educators’ intentions to advocate technology for students’ future and practices of the promoting software and hardware from private companies. It is beyond reach from the teachers’ standpoint. When our society’ income inequality is so enormous, and companies try to find way to profit  over the shared resource, the forecast for an outcome of the efforts the public school system tries to make is bleak.

Her analogy between learning the piano and learning the computer, the relevance for an expanded vision of digital literacy which would put forward to the financial and social inequalities penetrated in U.S. was obvious, especially in terms of Internet access and in public education. The case she provided with High Tech High School, supported by the Gates Foundation was illuminated the fact that the reason why it is important to examine current digital pedagogy with regards to unorganized and vague practices of labor in technology industry which tend to create unrealistic expectations in addition to focus on principles from corporate nature hugely neglects critical pedagogy.

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