This week on TeachLab, host Justin Reich is joined by S. Craig Watkins, professor at the University of Texas at Austin and a respected voice on digital media and youth culture. Together they discuss the affordances and limitations of technology in education and the digital divide created as technology becomes a staple in the classroom.

“What struck me is even as I came into the project aware of these ideas around the digital divide and the tech rich and the tech poor, the haves and the have-nots, when we subscribe to that view with no other considerations and in a very one-dimensional way, we end up imposing a kind of deficit narrative on those who we see as occupying the wrong side of the divide. That is to say we only see them, right, through lack. Lack of access to technology, lack of educational opportunities, lack of interest, lack of motivation, lack of this kind of capital, that kind of capital.”

-S. Craig Watkins

In this episode we’ll talk about:

• S. Craig Watkins’ edtech story: Using technology in the educational setting
• The digital divide
• Early adopters of mobile technology
• How classes and curriculum can stifle the creativity the technology introduces
• How the pandemic changes and doesn’t change edtech

Resources and Links

Check out Young People’s Transitions into Creative Work: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities

Check out The Digital Edge: How Black and Latino Youth Navigate Digital Inequality by S. Craig Watkins

Check out Don't Knock the Hustle: Young Creatives, Tech Ingenuity, and the Making of a New Innovation Economy

Check out Justin Reich’s new book Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can’t Transform Education

Transcript

https://teachlabpodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/s-craig-watkins/transcript

Produced by Aimee Corrigan and Garrett Beazley

Recorded and mixed by Garrett Beazley

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