WSIS Forum 2023: Implementing digital technology in education. What are the risks and benefits?

The aim is to understand the benefits and risks from the perspectives of different stakeholder groups – the users, producers of EdTech, the regulators, and academics.

Digitalisation of education is promoted by national governments, international organisations, and technology firms. Indeed, the education technology market is one of the fastest growing tech sectors, with the global EdTech expenditure reaching about $300B in 2022. The hope is that digital technologies will increase access to education, inclusiveness, improve fairness, precision, and efficiency in education, and free it from human bias. However, technology is not neutral. Political and economic agendas as well as existing biases can be baked into code. Automated decision-making (ADM) algorithms used in the public sector can disproportionately and negatively affect already marginalised people. The consequences of using such tools may perpetuate social inequalities. Whether the implementation of digital technology in the education sector brings about more fairness and social justice depends on how it is designed and used.