A United Nations report “says that overreliance on remote learning technology during the pandemic led to ‘staggering’ education inequality around the world,” reports the New York Times. The 655-page report from the United Nations’ education/culture agency UNESCO asks if we’ve just experienced a worldwide “ed-tech tragedy.”
Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes:
Some of the main findings of the report include:
1. The promise of education technology was overstated
2. Remote online learning worsened education disparities
3. Learning was hindered and altered
4. Regulation and guardrails are needed.
Remember that the report covers countries around the world, with different levels of economic development. One section of the report is actually titled, “Most learners were left behind,” citing estimates that “at least half of all students expected to access remote learning systems to continue their education were unable to do so due to technology gaps… In many parts of the world, accessing education via a technology portal was so uncommon and so unrealistic that many families did not even know that the option existed when schools closed.”
This should not have come as a particular surprise. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the specialized agency of the United Nations for ICT, estimated that approximately 3.7 billion people — roughly half of the world’s population — lacked a functional internet connection in 2020… Countries around the world invested heavily in internet-connected solutions for education, even though these solutions commonly reached only a minority of students, resulting in a bifurcation of educational opportunity.
The report begins with a warning from the agency’s assistant director-general for education. “Ultimately, we should heed this publication’s recommendation to exercise greater humility and caution when considering the educational promise of the latest technological marvels.”
