How edtech is made: Researching an evolving industry-education complex
Category: Publication
Special Issue Editor(s) Julian Sefton-Green, Deakin University julian.seftongreen@deakin.edu.au Luci Pangrazio, Deakin University luci.pangrazio@deakin.edu.au Andy Zhao, Deakin University xinyu.zhao@deakin.edu.au How edtech is made: Researching an evolving industry-education complex Education(al) technology, or its popular abbreviation edtech, has been framed as an unavoidable solution to many of our contemporary social and educational problems, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic (Williamson et al., 2020). A growing body of research is looking at how edtech apps and software are used in everyday settings; however, what needs more attention is critical investigation into the rapidly developing edtech industries (Decuypere et al., 2024; Williamson, 2022), as a specific institutional form of ‘production culture’ (Caldwell, 2008). Such an investigation should include the roles of investors, companies, distribution networks, governments, schools, and labour, as well as other intermediaries that create digital services and content for schools and education (Hillman et al., 2020; Ortegón et al., 2024; Regan & Khwaja, 2019). This special issue will ask: Where is the evidence that helps us map and understand the edtech industry? How can we collect the evidence? What are the established and new conceptual vocabularies that we can employ in analysing edtech as industry? And what are the opportunities and challenges of researching this industry? Articles in this special issue will contribute to how we can critically think and talk about edtech through a production culture and industry lens. This lens draws attention to how edtech industries are made through both state and corporate policies and cultural practices on the ground. We believe that a focus on edtech as industry allows us to reveal and interrogate the political economy and belief systems that underpin the everyday operation of technology in and for education. We invite empirical, theoretical, and methodological contributions that address the industries of edtech across various educational, geographical and/or sociocultural contexts. We are especially interested in bringing together original empirical case studies. Topics may include but are not limited: edtech ownership and business models how edtech articulates with or is shaped by state-based policies and initiatives edtech brokers and intermediaries forms of labour in the production of and engagement with edtech content and products value creation in edtech modes of financial investment in edtech the assemblage of actors involved in the industry platformisation of learning and education edtech industries in the Global South and non-English speaking countries Submission Instructions Please submit a 300-word abstract, title and author details to Dr Andy Zhao (xinyu.zhao@deakine.edu.au) before the submission deadline. Please note that all abstracts must align with the journal’s aims and scope. Authors will be invited to submit full papers in ScholarOne once their abstracts are accepted. All final papers (expected to be between 6,000 and 8,000 words, including references) will be subject to blind peer reviewing and refereeing processes. Please remember to select the special issue title when submitting your full manuscript in ScholarOne. Papers will be published online as soon as they are accepted with the Special Issue as a whole to follow.
Initiator(s):
Learning
,
Media and Technology
Deadline: 25.04.2025
Publication-Type: Article / Journal
Post created by: Lymor Wolf Goldstein