New EdTech network to address educational inequality
Leaders from Australia's education and technology sectors are joining forces to harness the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and educational technology (EdTech) to address educational inequalities.
Edtech is quickly changing the education sector. Enabled by AI, it has great potential to transform learning outcomes for students.
The Australian Network for Quality Digital Education brings together members from industry, government, schools and philanthropy to ensure that EdTech adopted in Australia’s schools meets the highest standards of quality and safety – and that the huge potential benefits of EdTech are used to tackle the deep education divide and uplift outcomes for students who experience disadvantage.
The Network will provide accessible and robust information about EdTech, and how tools can be best used for impact. At the same time, the Network will work on key policy questions and investigate the most successful educational uses of technology.
Professor Leslie Loble AM, who has a long history of public purpose reform, will chair the Network. Recognising the risks and benefits of edtech, Professor Loble stresses the need for accessible, robust evidence on its safe and effective use in Australian classrooms.
The Network will equip teachers, parents, and schools with the knowledge and resources needed to safely harness edtech's potential.
Technology, if well designed and managed, can play a crucial role in addressing the widening outcome gaps in Australia's education system.
Set up with primary funding from the Paul Ramsay Foundation and hosted in the UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion, the Network will take a cross-sector and bottom-up approach to achieve collective commitment to using EdTech for social improvement and better learning outcomes, especially for students who are disadvantaged in our systems.
At the heart of UTS’s strategic plan is our university’s commitment to the responsible leadership of technology. At the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion, we tackle inequalities in access to education and see responsible, well-designed and well-governed EdTech as a key part of the puzzle in solving these inequalities.
- Hon. Prof. Verity Firth AM, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Social Justice & Inclusion), UTS
I’m honoured that the CSJI can host Prof. Loble’s work and share her optimism that this is an opportunity for Australia to lead the way – adopting the very best EdTech and ensuring that all students have equitable access to it.
Research conducted by Professor Loble in 2022 shows EdTech has the potential to be enormously effective in enhancing outcomes for students facing disadvantage when it’s shaped carefully, with guarantees that it’s ethical and safe.
Find out more about the Australian Network for Quality Digital Education.
