The document discusses the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on education and the digital divide. It acknowledges the lives lost to Covid-19 and examines how the pandemic exposed existing digital inequalities in access to technology and literacy. While emergency remote teaching kept education going, it also highlighted issues with workload, mental health, and the commercialization of education technology. The document argues that while education technology's time as a mainstream solution may have passed, its role is now defined and it can be shaped to better support teaching and learning if past mistakes are addressed.

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"Has EdTech's Time
come.....and gone?"
ALT-NI Event 10/6/2022 - Belfast

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Acknowledge the
loss from Covid-19
4,611 NI (May 2022)
7,373 ROI (May 2022)

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SLIDESMANIA.COM
Me…Very Briefly
● Tom Farrelly (@TomFarrelly) – Lecturer &
Educational Developer in IT Tralee – Now
MTU (Kerry)
● Past Teaching – FE and Second level
● Research Interests – OA Publishing,
VLEs/LMS & ePortfolios
● Editorial board of Irish Journal of
Technology Enhanced Learning
(@ILTA_Journal)
● GastaMaster & Critical Technophile

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Title – a little Tongue
in Cheek, but….

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Charles Dickens, 1859
“It was the best of times, it was the
worst of times, it was the age of
wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch
of incredulity, it was the season of light,
it was the season of darkness, it was the
spring of hope, it was the winter of
despair.”
This Photo by
Unknown Author is
licensed under CC
BY-SA-NC

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Covid-19: Exposing the
Divide

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Digital Exclusion
● Access to High-quality connectivity
● Access to appropriate devices
● Poor digital literacy skills
● Motivation, attitude & interest

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SLIDESMANIA.COM
Digital divides in the least
developed countries (LDCs)
2021, UN Report - nearly half of the world’s
population, 3.7 billion people, lack internet
access
https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/dsgsm1579.doc.htm

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What does the Digital Divide look like in Northern Ireland?
https://www.assemblyresearchmatters.org/2021/11/16/an-overview-of-the-digital-divide-in-northern-ireland/

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Socio-economic variation
Quintile % Quintile %
First quintile – Very
Disadvantaged
20 Fourth quintile -
affluent
13
Second quintile -
Disadvantaged
25 Fifth quintile – very
affluent
0.5
Third quintile - average 13
Table 2.2. Percentage of households in Ireland with either no broadband or
broadband only, by income quintile, 2019

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It’s not just Connectivity – Belfast Cities.com

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Digital Divide Dimension -
Housing
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND

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PROF. MARK
BROWN, Director – NIDL/DCU
"The uncomfortable truth is that Ireland's
new digital society is not a fair society where
everyone has the opportunity to thrive. This
is a problem we must all own if we are to
build a more inclusive society for a better
Ireland and more sustainable future."

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What’s in a Name?

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A little learning is a dangerous
thing….Alexander Pope
Blended
Flipped
Hybrid
Asynchronous

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This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under
CC BY
Clarification is not
merely an exercise in
semantics/pedantry -
implications for
institutions, students,
and lecturers.

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What happened?

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Charles Dickens, 1859
“It was the best of times, it was the
worst of times, it was the age of
wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch
of incredulity, it was the season of light,
it was the season of darkness, it was the
spring of hope, it was the winter of
despair.” This Photo by
Unknown Author is
licensed under CC
BY-SA-NC

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despair
hope
darkness
light
incredulity
belief
foolishness
wisdom
worst
best

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SLIDESMANIA.COM
Best, Light, Hope & Wisdom
● A commitment to openness
● Sharing of practice/time
● Opportunity for global reach
● Kept education provision going
● Hugely inventive staff
● Parents & students responsiveness
● EdTech functionality illustrated

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Incredulity, Foolishness, Despair,
(Misguided) Belief
● Replicate rather than innovate
● Cameras and presenteeism
● Invigilation concerns
● Workload
● Mental health issues
● £€$ - Opportunities of tech firms
● Inequalities exposed
● Conflating ERT with quality online teaching

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SLIDESMANIA.COM
A Neo-Digital Era?
● Has EdTech’s Time Come …….and Gone?
● Does the future look as digital as we imagined?
○ I don’t think so.
● BUT……
● We need to shape and define, and not just be
viewed as stopgap, a marginal activity or as
service providers

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SLIDESMANIA.COM
Neo-Digital Era
● EdTech has made that breakthrough
● Embrace what worked
● Learn from the mistakes
● It’s not an either or time
● Rather, it’s a new role for EdTech

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