EdTech and business joined the conversation in Digital Childhoods seminar
The second in a new series of public seminars brought together experts in children’s education technology
The second Digital Child x ACMI seminar, held on 26th October, brought together education technology developers, industry experts and academics to discuss ‘Australian EdTech for Better Digital Childhoods’. The seminar was part of a series focused on digital childhoods, jointly organised by the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI).
Led by panel chair Professor Julian Sefton-Green from Deakin University, the panel included ABC’s Head of Digital Education Annabel Astbury, CEO and Founder of TalkiPlay Dr Annie McAuley, Simon Torok from Google’s Education Technology, and Founder and CIO of Xplor Mark Woodland. Digital Child Associate Investigator Professor Susan Edwards acted as panel discussant.
The global COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use and influence of educational technologies in education settings and at home. The panel discussed the issues related to this from the perspectives of edtech developers, parents, educators and media distributors like the ABC. Questions posed included: How ‘educational’ are educational apps? What teaching approaches are embedded in platforms? How is the quality of digital play and learning assured? How do we know if our data is being misused?
“It was wonderful to bring together stakeholders from the industry, community and academia in this seminar to talk about what educational technologies mean for Australian children and how we can work together for better digital childhoods,” said event convener Dr Xinyu (Andy) Zhao, Research Fellow at Deakin’s Centre for Research for Educational Impact (REDI).
“Supporting children and families in the digital age requires input and efforts from all sectors of society. I believe this seminar is only a starting point for future conversations and collaborations on creating healthy, educated and connected futures for children.”
Watch the seminar:
You can also view the seminar on the Digital Child YouTube channel.