UNESCO and Tech On Our Terms

UNESCO has published a report on the use of digital technology, worldwide. As a builder of digital technology for education, there is a lot I agree with.

Before moving on to that, however, I would like to note that in the year 2023, they thought the right way to publish a report on digital technology was to embed a PDF inside some custom viewer in a web page.

Implementation matters.

One of the key themes is that technology should put learners first, and not attempt to supplant the relationship between teachers and students. Absolutely, on both counts. This is core to my belief in Pandita. Great tools and insight are secondary to that relationship. Tools and tech can help you learn better, but only insofar as a student believes that a teacher understands where they are, and both have a shared understanding of why the student is learning.

This reminds me of therapeutic alliance from my work in mental health. The strongest indicator that therapy was going to work was not whether CBT or ACT was used. It was if client and therapist both understood why the therapy was taking place and what was sought to be gained from it: therapeutic alliance.

What’s the measure of educational alliance?