Why do companies think they have solved education with non-education products?

Hi everyone,

I'm currently trying to get something started in the EdTech space and have been doing some reading in the area to familarise myself with the current theories and practices in education. I'm reading Daisy Christodoulou's "Teachers vs Tech: The Case for an Ed Tech Revolution", and long story short...

She talks about initiatives that Apple, Microsoft and Google have put in place for schools and teachers especially in the US. She talks about how, for instance, Google promotes a method of learning not based on traditional knowledge acquisition, but on 'how to make the most of search engines' or 'how to search terms correctly' or 'how to check the validity of sources'. Apple/Microsoft do tings like 'present back on XYZ using a movie you made in iMovie/Windows Movie Maker', or 'make a presentation using Powerpoint/Keynote' etc... All these companies are claiming that in an interconnected world, we need to know less facts (as we can just find them online), but more dynamic skills for navigating this world.

Now no doubt these things are important, and good skills for students to be learning. But as Daisy covers in the book, knowing 'how to make a good search' doesn't really mean anything if you don't know what you're searching for to begin with. Knowing how to use iMovie doesn't really matter if you haven't properly understood the XYZ you are making a video about. If we fill students' working memories with technology-usage related skills, how will they pick up the basic skills they need moving forward, like reading/writing/maths?

I think there's different sides to this argument, but the thing that really annoys me about these companies is this: they were not initially created for the education of students. They were created for other purposes, and are now being sold BY THOSE COMPANIES as the SOLUTION to education, based on a definition of learning THAT THOSE COMAPANIES THEMSELVES have come up with. Google says the most important thing for students to be learning is search ability and data validation, that GOOGLE SELLS. Microsoft/Apple say it's about harnessing technological skills, that THEY SELL.

It feels so Black Mirror-y to me to have companies dictating what learning looks like for students based on what they are selling, when what they are selling wasn't ever initally created for the purposes of learning. Surely those kind of claims/studies should be left to companies/researchers whose sole purpose is to create educational products/content, meaning that what is created is in line with what is actually studied when it comes to how we learn, and mutually and objectively discovered to be the case with the end goal being better education, not more use of one company's product?

Rant over, would love to know peoples' thoughts on all this

Submitted June 21, 2020 at 01:14PM by soody765 https://ift.tt/30ZLC1X