In February 2025, AGORA Centre hosted a university-level academic discussion titled “Problematising education and digital technology”. The event gathered 15 participants from the University of Helsinki, who expressed their perspectives on four themes:
1. What are the pressing issues, concerns, tensions and problems that surround EdTech in our locality? What questions do we need to ask, and what approaches will help us research these questions?
2. What social harms are we seeing associated with digital technology and education in our locality?
3. What does the political economy of EdTech look like in our region? What do local EdTech markets look like? How are global Big Tech corporations manifest in local education systems? What does EdTech policy look like, and which actors are driving policymaking? What do we find if we ‘follow the money’?
4. What grounds for hope are there? Can we point to local instances of digital technology leading to genuine social benefits and empowerment? What local push-back and resistance against egregious forms of EdTech is evident? What alternate imaginaries are being circulated about education and digital futures?
The event was part of Neil Selwyn’s global initiative CSET 2025 – Critical studies of education and technology: an invitation to connect – Critical Studies of EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY which had the aim to create a loose network of groups that can begin to make lasting connections, develop a sense of intellectual community and develop opportunities for further international collaborations. There were over 40 similar meetings organized at universities all around the world during the same week.
The report resulted from this global event, titled “Critical studies of education and technology … reasons to be hopeful?” documents the collective efforts taken to sustain this important research space amidst increasing structural pressures and uncertainty. The main aim of this report is to get scholars to reflect about the purposes and intended outcomes of their work in relation to educational technology. See the full report here.
AGORA research unit has played a key role in supporting the future of the Critical Studies of Education and Technology (CSET) network, a unique international hub for critical and theoretical educational research.