The future of EdTech is far from pre-determined or inevitable. At a time of deep instability and uncertainty in the education sector, different claims on how the future will unfold are made by actors including EdTech industry entrepreneurs, financial investors, global technology firms, think tanks, and government agencies. This talk will focus on how EdTech futures are “fabricated” by different actors, specifically by drawing on recent research examining the “futuring” techniques, methods and practices through which claims on the future of EdTech are made. I will unpack four examples of how edtech futures are being fabricated:
(1) Projecting: the use of data-driven market forecasts to make investable claims on the future of EdTech;
(2) Prototyping: the imagining and construction of early stage proof of concept models of future EdTech applications;
(3) Pilot testing: real-world experiments and testbeds with EdTech in situated social settings; and
(4) Product trialling of new EdTech applications to generate evidence for scaling-up commercial products.
Through these futuring techniques, actors including EdTech investors, entrepreneurs, global tech companies and government agencies are seeking to manage the uncertainty of the future. They establish pathways towards narrowly defined futures while foreclosing alternative visions informed by different educational communities and collectives.