“The use of technology in the classroom and at home by students can cause distractions and, consequently, hinder learning,” concludes the report that Unesco has published on technology in education and warns about the use of cell phones and computers in the classroom, as well as digital products.
The agency warns of the lack of evidence of the improvements produced by information technology and, instead, underlines the consequences that have proven to be negative with excessive or inappropriate use. He defends the work of the teacher in the classroom, irreplaceable by technology, which should be limited to being a support resource when its benefit is evident. And charges against companies that sell digital products without scientific evidence.
“Not all change constitutes progress,” says Unesco, and “the fact that it can be done does not always mean that it should be done.” Thus, in this sense, it appeals to learn from past mistakes when using technology in education so as not to repeat them in the future.
“We must teach children to live with technology as well as without it; to take what they need from the abundance of information, but ignore what is not necessary; to let technology support, but never supplant, human interactions in teaching and learning”.
The new global report highlights the lack of proper regulation. Countries are urged to set their own conditions for the design and use of technology in education so that it never replaces face-to-face, teacher-led teaching, and supports the shared goal of quality education for all. .
For Unesco, smartphones interfere in classes, there is no evidence that they help improve learning, including artificial intelligence, and instead expose children to cyberbullying.
Data from large-scale international assessments, such as those provided by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), suggest a negative relationship between excessive use of ICT and student achievement.
In 14 countries, it has been found that just being around a mobile device distracts students and has a negative effect on learning.” Yet less than a quarter of countries have banned the use of smartphones at school. the schools”.
“The digital revolution has immeasurable potential but, just as warnings have been made about how it should be regulated in society, similar attention must be paid to the way it is used in education,” says the director general of UNESCO. , Audrey Azoulay, in the report.
“Their use -he continues- must be to improve learning experiences and for the well-being of students and teachers, not to their detriment,” he continued, so the student’s needs must be prioritized and support teachers, keeping in mind that “online connections are not a replacement for human interaction.”
UNESCO urges countries to have clear objectives and principles to ensure that digital technology in education is beneficial and prevents harm, both for the health of students and for democracy and human rights in general (hate crimes or lack of Of privacy).
UNESCO stresses that there is no solid research showing that digital technology adds value to education. And that a large part of some research is not neutral because it was financed by companies that wanted to commercialize digital learning products.
The argument goes that technology evolves at a faster rate than can be measured: on average, edtech products change every 36 months. Most of the evidence comes from wealthier countries and from companies trying to sell their products.
The report warns that the growing influence of these companies on education policy around the world is “a cause for concern”.
Countries are “awakening” to the need to place students at the center of analysis. China, for example, has set limits on the use of digital devices as teaching tools, limiting them to 30% of all teaching time, and students are expected to take regular breaks from screens.
He gives the technology reach example of an examination of 23 math apps used at the elementary level that showed they focused on exercise and practice, not advanced skills.
“Any advances must focus on learning outcomes, not technological input,” the report states. To do this, he gives the example of Peru, where more than a million laptops were distributed without being incorporated into pedagogy, so learning did not improve. In the United States, an analysis of more than two million students found that learning gaps widened when instruction was delivered exclusively at a distance.
And the technology doesn’t have to be advanced to be effective. In China, high-quality lecture recordings provided to 100 million rural students improved their results by 32% and narrowed the rural-urban income gap by 38%.
UNESCO includes four reflection questions in the presentation of the report that are summarized below:
1. Is the technology adequate?
The use of technology can enhance certain forms of learning in some contexts. The report cites evidence showing that the benefits of learning disappear if technology is used excessively or in the absence of a qualified teacher. For example, distributing computers to students does not improve learning if teachers are not involved in the learning experience. Smartphones in schools have also been shown to be a distraction from learning, yet less than a quarter of countries ban their use in schools.
On the other hand, learning inequalities between students increase when teaching is exclusively remote and online content is not always appropriate for the context. A study of open educational resource collections revealed that nearly 90% of higher education online repositories were created in Europe or North America. 92% of the material in the Open Educational Resources Commons world library is published in English.
2. Is it fair?
During the coronavirus pandemic, the accelerated transition to online learning left out at least half a billion students worldwide, hitting the poorest and those living in rural areas the most.
The report underlines that the right to education is increasingly synonymous with the right to meaningful connectivity, and yet one in four primary schools lacks electricity. It calls for all countries to set benchmarks for connecting schools to the Internet by 2030 and to continue to focus on the most marginalized.
3. Is it expandable?
Reliable, rigorous and unbiased evidence on the added value of technology in learning is needed now more than ever, but it is not available. Most of the evidence comes from the United States, where the What Works Clearinghouse noted that less than 2% of educational interventions evaluated had “strong or moderate evidence of effectiveness.” When the evidence is only obtained from the technology companies themselves, there is a risk that it will be biased.
Many countries ignore the long-term costs of technology acquisitions, and the EdTech market is expanding while basic education needs remain unmet.
The cost of moving to basic digital learning in low-income countries and of connecting all schools to the Internet in lower-middle-income countries would add 50% to their current funding gap to meet national Target Goal targets. Sustainable Development 4. A full digital transformation of education with internet connectivity in schools and homes would cost more than $1 billion a day just to run.
4. Is it sustainable?
The dizzying pace of technology evolution forces education systems to adapt. Digital literacy and critical thinking are becoming increasingly important, especially given the growth of generative Artificial Intelligence. Additional data attached to the report indicates that this adaptation movement has already begun: 54% of the countries surveyed have defined the competencies they want to develop for the future. But only 11 of the 51 governments surveyed have AI curricula.
In addition to these competencies, basic literacy should not be overlooked as it is also critical for digital application: students with better reading skills are much less likely to be tricked by phishing emails.
In addition, teachers also need adequate training, although only half of the countries currently have standards to develop their ICT competencies. Few teacher training programs cover cybersecurity, despite 5% of ransomware attacks targeting education.
Sustainability also requires a greater guarantee of the rights of technology users. Currently, only 16% of countries guarantee data privacy in education by law. According to an analysis, 89% of 163 educational technology products can poll children. In addition, 39 of the 42 governments that provided online education during the pandemic encouraged uses that “put at risk or violated” the rights of children.
