[Air-L] Call for critical reflections Digital education in a time of crisis: reflections, critiques, and conversations

[Harry Dyer (EDU - Staff)]

As an open-access journal focused on the overlaps between technology, education, and culture, we at Digital Culture and Education (DCE) believe there is a pressing need to critically explore and reflect upon the ways in which we find education and technology are enmeshing in this unique and pivotal moment.

Beyond much-needed practical advice about how to use the many systems that are being proposed to address practical and pedagogical challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns remain about a number of issues. For example, concerns about the ways in which educational technologies create and perpetuate inequity; about which voices are emphasised online and which are minimised; about whether this is a pivot point and what it means for the future of higher education; about the creeping data surveillance and the information we reluctantly give away to access these pedagogical solutions; about the ethics and agendas of the companies producing these interventions; and about whether these technologies are fit for purpose.

We are therefore calling for expressions of interest from people at all stages of their career, and particularly welcome early career and higher degree researchers to join us in a series of short critical reflections to be published online on the Digital Culture and Education journal. As an open-access journal we are uniquely positioned to respond quickly and in a flexible manner, and are aiming to have the critical reflections publish by the end of May.

We invite researchers, practitioners, activists, policy makers, students, and interested parties to take part in curated online monologues or discussions exploring the intersection of technology, education and culture as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The current situation requires us to be flexible in how we engage in these discussions. As such, these short discussions can be video recorded, audio only, or developed in a written format as a think piece or blog, and will be made publicly available on our website, DigitalCultureandEducation.com. We actively encourage contributions from a broad range of backgrounds and interests, as well as from projects in early stages, and are willing to work with a range of formats. Should you have suggestions or queries about formats for this, please do email the address at the end of this call.

Topics include, but are not limited to
•       inequity and inequity in digital education, and how this impacts education in the current crisis
•       Digital divides and issues of access
•       The legacy of COVID-19 on Higher Education
•       Data surveillance and Big Data in a time of crisis
•       The role of capitalism in digital education and what this means for education moving forward
•       The efficacy of digital education
•       Issues of temporality and the myth of ‘free time’
•       FOMO
•       Resistance to digital education
•       Digital education as resistance
•       A topic of your choice around digital education and culture in the current pandemic

Whilst it is uniquely difficult to reflect upon an ongoing situation, DCE believes that opening up a space to critically examine and discuss these issues is vital for researchers, policy makers, and practitioners, especially as the choices we are making now have the potential to heavily impact the future of education and technology.

With this in mind, we issue this call for contributors to a series of critical reflections. You can either submit as a group, or individually. Should you wish to take part in a recorded discussion and you submit individually, we will endeavor to pair you with relevant partners. We also welcome individual monologues, think pieces, and blogs. All submissions are subject to a light-touch review before uploading to ensure they meet the values and standards of DCE.

To signal your interest, please email a 250-300 word abstract and short bio, or CV for each participant to harry.t.dyer at uea.ac.uk<mailto:harry.t.dyer at uea.ac.uk>. The deadline for signalling interest is MAY 12th. Questions and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.