Future Topics

In the coming months, Educational Technology Debate will host conversations around the following topics. Feel free to contact us with recommendations for both discussants and suggested topics.

• Laptops or Mobiles? Covered in June 2009
• How Can ICT Excite Girls and Boys? Covered in September 2009
• The Sustainability of ICT4E Coming in October
• Free and Open Source Software vs. Proprietary Solutions
  Free and open source software (FOSS) has proven itself as a viable alternative to proprietary solutions in a host of fields. Its proclaimed advantages range from cost to customizability, but many initiatives still utilize proprietary software. Is this a mistake or does FOSS have flaws that make it unfit for mass ICT4E use?
• Creating Indigenous Language Content for Learners
  Although English is the first language for only 6 percent of the world’s population, it dominates online content. In order to fully benefit from the Internet, students need a wide variety of content available in a language they speak. How can this content be best created?
• The Role of Competition 
  Even amidst the current economic crisis, there remains a high level of interest in ICT4E with many new entrants to the market. Some, however, have argued that this competition is to the detriment of educating students and that non-profit enterprises cannot afford to compete with multi-national corporations. Should competition be encouraged in ICT4E, or should interested actors focus on collaboration?
• High-Tech vs. Low-Tech
  Much of the excitement about ICT4E focuses on relatively high-tech, digital options like laptop computers. However, these can bring along a host of troubles such as minimal connectivity and a lack of appropriate support. Instead, might the goals of ICT4E be better served with low-tech solutions like radio or even postal mail?
   
• Open and Distance Learning
  Open and distance learning (ODL) has been used around the world for decades in a range of educational enterprises – from teacher training to secondary schooling. Is the promise of inexpensive, accessible education from ODL a reality?  

• Unintended Consequences of ICT4E?
  In the rush to introduce modern technology into classrooms around the world, are educators and policy-makers producing dangerous unintended consequences? Notably, modern computing brings about detrimental environmental costs such as high energy use and difficult to recycle materials. Are the costs worth the benefits?
   
• Making Education Accessible to All
  Governments around the world are committed to making education available to all. ICT is considered one way to do so – by using distance learning, for example, hard to reach populations could be exposed to high-quality learning materials. However, by focusing on technology for education, are policy-makers ignoring the so-called digital divide? Will ICT4E exacerbate the problem or present the solution? 

We look forward to moderating the important conversations that surround the use of ICT in education and hope you will join us by submitting suggested topics or debaters, adding your voice in the comments, and subscribing to the site.