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Short abstract:

Introducing Critical and Participatory Design as methodologies that conceptualise technology design as the development of socio-material assemblies, I reflect on how characteristics of both approaches can foster a more inclusive and reflective engagement with technology in the context of schools.

Long abstract:

This contribution introduces Critical and Participatory Design (CD/PD) as methodological approaches that follow the STS-rationale by understanding technology design as the development of socio-material assemblies (Bjögvinsson et al. 2012). Assuming that humans and non-humans co-constitute a design ‘object’ both approaches raise awareness that the values and practices conveyed by a technology highly depend on 'who' designed it and 'which context' it is embedded in.

In the educational sector, technology (EdTech) is frequently designed outside schools by non-pedagogical staff such as IT-specialists (Selwyn 2021). Consequently, research has shown that EdTech oftentimes reproduces the downsides of traditional teaching and introduces new risks for, e.g., democracy instead of revolutionising education (Reich 2020). To orient EdTech design more towards pedagogy and give school actors the opportunity to reflect on EdTech’s context-specific effects, the interest in applying co-design methods in the development and research of digital educational environments has increased.

Using CD and PD as analytical viewpoint, this contribution reflects on how characteristics of both can foster a more inclusive and reflective engagement with EdTech in school development. Illustrating empirical findings from a co-design process in two schools, I show how especially three institutionalised logics challenged a participatory and reflective approach: (1) the idea of school development as a set of sequential processes; (2) an understanding of digital and analogue as oppositions; (3) the conceptualisation of knowledge hierarchies between internal and external stakeholders. Concludingly, I reflect on how CD and PD can be rethought with regards to STS to be better applicable in educational institutions.