Reflections on Audrey Watters and Equity in Ed-Tech

 

I sort of went down an Audrey Watters rabbit hole this week - I find much of her writing (inside and outside of the ed-tech realm) to be very compelling. She has a strong, critical, and engaging voice in both her professional writing and informal blog. I like how she frames her tech trends reports, by saying "the stories we are told..." It makes a statement on how leaders in technology are storytellers in their own right; they must sell their product, idea, or vision to other leaders in education, non-profits, finance, etc. Throughout the semester, we learned how to become one of these tech leaders in our own spheres. We create our own stories tailored to our audience - our peers. 

I also appreciate her lens of equity and justice. I always try to center equity, inclusion, and justice when reviewing new technology, In undergrad, I remember learning about surveillance states from a critical theory lens (shoutout ot Foucalt), then applying said theory to the increase of surveillance systems and facial recognition systems. Some police forces have attempted to include facial recognition technology in their surveillance and investigations, which often fail to differenciate different faces on darker skin tones. 

When Ryan and I worked on our AI and ChatGPT presentation, I found it important to note how AI is often biased itself. I think folks often think technology, coding languages, and algorithms are often unbiased since it's "technical" or "science." I find this increasingly dangerous as new technology emerges. Technology is becoming more innovated and exciting, but what I don't find exciting is the lack of diverse voices in the ed-tech realm.