Abstract
This chapter reviews the perspectives and scholarship that address educational equity through the application of technology and digital tools. We first explore how equity is framed in global discourse and the role that educational technology has played in both addressing and perpetuating disparities in achievement. Policymakers, designers, and researchers have routinely attempted to use digital technologies to address the learning needs of historically marginalized populations. Before we examine these technological interventions in context, we must first explore the root causes of what “counts” as an achievement gap as well as what “counts” as technology.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Texts refer to the multiple types of artifacts information is communicated and delivered in the twenty-first century. It may include multimodal texts that incorporate the use of images, video, audio, animation, and semiotics disseminated in digital and socially networked interactive spaces.
References
Banerjee, A., & Duflo, E. (2016). Structured study time, self-efficacy, and tutoring. AEA RCT Registry.
Banerjee, A. V., Cole, S., Duflo, E., & Linden, L. (2007). Remedying education: Evidence from two randomized experiments in India. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(3), 1235–1264.
Bang, M., Warren, B., Rosebery, A. S., & Medin, D. (2012). Desettling expectations in science education. Human Development, 55(5–6), 302–318.
Barrera-Osorio, F., & Linden, L. L. (2009). The use and misuse of computers in education: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial of a language arts program. Cambridge, MA: Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL).
Beuermann, D. W., Cristia, J., Cueto, S., Malamud, O., & Cruz-Aguayo, Y. (2015). One laptop per child at home: Short-term impacts from a randomized experiment in Peru. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7(2), 53–80.
Blume, H. (2013a). L.A. students breach school iPads’ security. Los Angeles Times, September 25, 2013. http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/24/local/la-me-lausd-ipads-20130925
Blume, H. (2013b). L.A. unified to get $6.4 million in settlement over iPad software. Los Angeles Times, September 29, 2015. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-la-unified-ipad-settlement-20150925-story.html
Bradshaw, A. C. (2017). Critical pedagogy and educational technology. In A. D. Benson, R. Joseph, & J. L. Moore (Eds.), Culture, learning, and technology: Research and practice (pp. 8–27). New York: Routledge.
Bulman, G., & Fairlie, R. W. (2016). Technology and education: Computers, software, and the Internet. In E. A. Hanushek, S. Machin, & L. Woessmann (Eds.), Handbook of the economics of education (Vol. 5, pp. 239–280). Amsterdam: North Holland.
Cakir, H., Delialioglu, O., Dennis, A., & Duffy, T. (2009). Technology enhanced learning environments for closing the gap in student achievement between regions: Does it work? AACE Journal, 17(4), 301–315.
Chávez, V., & Soep, E. (2005). Youth radio and the pedagogy of collegiality. Harvard Educational Review, 75(4), 409–434.
Cohen, C., Kahne, J., Bowyer, B., Middaugh, E., & Rogowski, J. (2012). Participatory politics: New media and youth political action. Irvine, CA: DML Research Hub. Retrieved from http://ypp.dmlcentral.net/sites/default/files/publications/Participatory_Politics_New_Media_and_Youth_Political_Action.2012.pdf
Cristia, J., Ibarraran, P., Cueto, S., Santiago, A., & Severin, E. (2017). Technology and child development: Evidence from the one laptop per child program. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 9(3), 295–320.
Cuban, L. (1986). Teachers and machines: The classroom use of technology since 1920. New York: Teachers College Press.
Cuban, L. (2012, March 10). Answering the big question on new technology in schools: Does it work? (Part 1). Retrieved from http://larrycuban.wordpress.com/2012/03/10/answering-the-big-question-on-new-technology-in-schools-does-it-work-part-1/
Cuban, L. (2018). The flight of a butterfly or the path of a bullet? Using technology to transform teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Cummins, J. (2009). Transformative multiliteracies pedagogy: School-based strategies for closing the achievement gap. Multiple Voices for Ethnically Diverse Exceptional Learners, 11(2), 38–56.
Darling-Hammond, L. (2015). The flat world and education: How America’s commitment to equity will determine our future. New York: Teachers College Press.
Darling-Hammond, L., Zielezinski, M. B., & Goldman, S. (2014) Using technology to support at-risk students’ learning. Alliance for Excellent Education and Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education. Retrieved from https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/scope-pub-using-technology-report.pdf
Davies, R., Sprague, C., & New, C. (2008). Integrating technology into a science classroom: An evaluation of inquiry-based technology integration. In D. W. Sunal, E. L. Wright, & C. Sundberg (Eds.), The impact of technology and the laboratory on K–16 science learning series: Research in science education (pp. 207–237). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc..
de Alvarez, M. S., & Dickson-Deane, C. (2018). Avoiding educational technology pitfalls for inclusion and equity. TechTrends, 62(4), 345–353.
de los Ríos, C. V. (2018). Bilingual Vine making: Problematizing oppressive discourses in a secondary Chicanx/Latinx studies course. Learning, Media and Technology, 43(4), 359–373.
Delgado, A. J., Wardlow, L., McKnight, K., & O’Malley, K. (2015). Educational technology: A review of the integration, resources, and effectiveness of technology in K-12 classrooms. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 14, 397–416.
Edyburn, D. L. (2006). Failure is not an option: Collecting, reviewing, and acting on evidence for using technology to enhance academic performance. Learning & Leading with Technology, 34(1), 20–23.
Emmanuel, N. (2018, February). Education technology is a global opportunity. Retrieved September 17, 2018, from http://social.techcrunch.com/2018/01/19/education-technology-is-a-global-opportunity/
Escueta, M., Quan, V., Nickow, A. J., & Oreopoulos, P. (2017). Education technology: an evidence-based review (No. w23744). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Freire, P., & Macedo, D. P. (1987). Literacy: Reading the word & the world. South Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey Publishers.
Gallego, M. A., Cole, M., & Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition. (2001). Classroom culture and culture in the classroom. In V. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (4th ed., pp. 951–997). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.
Garcia, A. (2017). Good reception: Teens, teachers, and mobile media in a Los Angeles high school. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Gitlin, A. (2017). Communities of difference. Retrieved from http://divvy.live/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=19:communities-of-difference
Gitlin, A. D., & Ingerski, J. (2018). Rewriting critical pedagogy for public schools: Technological possibilities. The International Journal of Critical Pedagogy, 9(1), 7–27.
Global Report Predicts EdTech Spend to Reach $252bn by 2020. (2016, May 25), Retrieved September 17, 2018, from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-report-predicts-edtech-spend-to-reach-252bn-by-2020-580765301.html
Grover, S. (2018). The 5th ‘c’ of 21st century skills? Try computational thinking (Not coding). Edsurge News. Retrieved September 16, 2018, from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-02-25-the-5th-c-of-21st-century-skills-try-computational-thinking-not-coding
Grover, S., & Pea, R. (2013). Computational thinking in k–12: A review of the state of the field. Educational Researcher, 42(1), 38–43.
Gutiérrez, K. (2008). Developing a sociocritical literacy in the third space. Reading Research Quarterly, 43(2), 148–164.
Gutiérrez, K., & Penuel, W. (2014). Relevance to practice as a criterion for rigor. Educational Researcher, 43(1), 19–23.
Gutiérrez, K. D., & Rogoff, B. (2003). Cultural ways of learning: Individual traits or repertoires of practice. Educational Researcher, 32(5), 19–25.
Held, D. (1980). Introduction to critical theory: From Horkheimer to Habermas. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Ito, M., Gutiérrez, K., Livingstone, S., Penuel, B., Rhodes, J., Salen, K., et al. (2013). Connected learning: An agenda for research and design. Irvine, CA: Digital Media and Learning Research Hub.
Ito, M., Soep, E., Kligler-Vilenchik, N., Shresthova, S., Gamber-Thompson, L., & Zimmerman, A. (2015). Learning connected civics: Narratives, practices, infrastructures. Curriculum Inquiry, 45(1), 10–29.
Koehler, M., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60–70.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3–12.
Lee, C. D. (2003). Why we need to re-think race and ethnicity in educational research. Educational Researcher, 32(5), 3–5.
Lee, C. H., & Soep, E. (2016). None but ourselves can free our minds: Critical computational literacy as a pedagogy of resistance. Equity & Excellence in Education, 49(4), 480–492.
Lee, C. H., & Soep, E. (2018). Beyond coding: Using critical computational literacy to transform tech. Texas Education Review, 6(1), 10–16.
Lee, J. (2002). Racial and ethnic achievement gap trends: Reversing the progress toward equity? Educational Researcher, 31(1), 3–12.
Luke, A. (2012). Critical literacy: Foundational notes. Theory Into Practice, 51(1), 4–11.
Mirra, N. (2018). Educating for empathy: Literacy learning and civic engagement. New York: Teachers College Press.
Mo, D., Huang, W., Shi, Y., Zhang, L., Boswell, M., & Rozelle, S. (2015). Computer technology in education: Evidence from a pooled study of computer assisted learning programs among rural students in China. China Economic Review, 36, 131–145.
Moreno Sandoval, C. D. (2013). Critical ancestral computing: A culturally relevant computer science education. PsychNology Journal, 11, 91–112.
New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66, 60–92.
Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of oppression: How search engines reinforce racism. New York: New York University Press.
Osguthorpe, R. T., Osguthorpe, R. D., Jacob, W. J., & Davies, R. (2003). The moral dimensions of instructional design. Educational Technology, 43(2), 19–23.
Pacheco, M., & Gutiérrez, K. (2009). Cultural-historical approaches to literacy, teaching and learning. In C. Compton-Lilly (Ed.), Breaking the silence: Recognizing the social and cultural resources students bring to the classroom (pp. 60–77). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Patel, L. (2016). Decolonizing educational research: From ownership to answerability. New York: Routledge.
Pea, R. (1985). Beyond amplification: Using the computer to reorganize mental functioning. Educational Psychologist, 20, 167–182.
Philip, T., & Garcia, A. (2013). The importance of still teaching the igeneration: New technologies and the centrality of pedagogy. Harvard Educational Review, 83(2), 300–319.
Philip, T. M., & Garcia, A. (2015). Schooling mobile phones: Assumptions about proximal benefits, the challenges of shifting meanings, and the politics of teaching. Educational Policy, 29(4), 676–707.
Piper, B., Zuilkowski, S. S., Kwayumba, D., & Strigel, C. (2016). Does technology improve reading outcomes? Comparing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of ICT interventions for early grade reading in Kenya. International Journal of Educational Development, 49, 204–214.
Reardon, S. F. (2011). The widening academic achievement gap between the rich and the poor: New evidence and possible explanations. In Whither opportunity. Russell Sage Foundation: New York, NY. (pp. 91–116).
Rogoff, B. (1994). Developing understanding of the idea of communities of learners. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 1(4), 209–229.
Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. London: Zed Books.
Soep, E., Lee, C., Van Wart, S., Parikh, T. (2020). Code for what? In H. Jenkins, S. Shresthova, &, G. Peters-Lazaro (Eds.), Popular culture and the civic imagination: A casebook. (pp. 89–99). New York University Press: New York, NY.
Software & Information Industry Association. (2015). SIIA Estimates $8.38 Billion US Market for PreK-12 Educational Software and Digital Content. The Software & Information Industry Association. Retrieved from http://www.siia.net/Press/SIIA-Estimates-838-Billion-Dollars-USMarket-for-PreK-12-Educational-Software-and-Digital-Content
Spring, J. H. (1994). Deculturalization and the struggle for equality: A brief history of the education of dominated cultures in the United States. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Subramony, D. P. (2004). Instructional technologists’ inattention to issues of cultural diversity among learners. Educational Technology, 44(4), 19–24.
Subramony, D. P. (2017). Revisiting instructional technologists’ inattention to issues of cultural diversity among stakeholders. In Culture, Learning, and Technology (pp. 28–43). Routledge.
Tawfik, A. A., Reeves, T. D., & Stich, A. (2016). Intended and unintended consequences of educational technology on social inequality. TechTrends, 60(6), 598–605.
Tuck, E. (2009). Suspending damage: A letter to communities. Harvard Educational Review, 79(3), 409–428.
Vakil, S. (2018). Ethics, identity, and political vision: Toward a justice-centered approach to equity in computer science education. Harvard Educational Review, 88(1), 26–52.
Vakil, S., McKinney de Royston, M., Suad Nasir, N., & Kirshner, B. (2016). Rethinking race and power in design-based research: Reflections from the field. Cognition and Instruction, 34(3), 194–209.
Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Wing, J. M. (2006). Computational thinking. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), 33.
Wing, J. M. (2008). Computational thinking and thinking about computing. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 366(1881), 3717–3725.
Young, P. A. (2014). The presence of culture in learning. In J. M. Spector, M. D. Merrill, J. Elen, & M. J. Bishop (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (pp. 349–361). New York: Springer New York.
Zheng, B., Warschauer, M., Lin, C. H., & Chang, C. (2016). Learning in one-to-one laptop environments: A meta-analysis and research synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 86(4), 1052–1084.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Garcia, A., Lee, C.H. (2020). Equity-Centered Approaches to Educational Technology. In: Bishop, M.J., Boling, E., Elen, J., Svihla, V. (eds) Handbook of Research in Educational Communications and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36119-8_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36119-8_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-36118-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-36119-8
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)