In November 2016, British Council Armenia hosted their fourth teacher development event with Scott Thornbury as a guest speaker. This talk 'Ed tech: the mouse that roared' looks at a series of problems and solutions offered by technology.
Ed tech: the mouse that roared
Despite a paucity of evidence to show that digital technology enhances language learning, the fever for new tools and apps continues unabated. Moreover, each innovation arrives garlanded with promises that are seldom if ever fulfilled, such that the history of educational technology in the 20th century has been characterised as a continuous cycle of ‘hype, hope, and disappointment’ (Selwyn 2011, p. 59). To guard against the hype and to avoid disappointment, the vigilant teacher needs to ask: What is the problem for which this technology is the solution? In this talk I reduce language learning to six ‘problems’ and evaluate the solutions that technology offers.
Link to the recording of this talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg9M45iUAys