An ed-tech tragedy? Educational technologies and school closures in the time of COVID-19

An Ed-Tech Tragedy? is a detailed analysis of what happened when education became largely reliant on connected technology during school closures stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, the largest global disruption to education in history. Global evidence reveals the ways unprecedented educational dependence on technology often resulted in unchecked exclusion, staggering inequality, inadvertent harm and the elevation of learning models that place machines and profit before people. The study proposes new directions for ed-tech, among which prioritizing the best interests of students and teachers, redesigning online environments to centre students' needs and giving teachers agency in ed-tech pedagogies.