My first semester in the PhD program is frantically winding down. One of my classes this semester addressed the effects of globalization on education. Up to this point I’ve experienced dialogue concerning globalization in a periphery manner – news snippets here, comments there – and didn’t really understand what globalization was.

People who write about globalization speak a lot about the impact of information technology in facilitating global influence on countries, and consequently education writers took that claim and trumpeted the importance of teaching our kids “technology skills” so they could be a part of the 21st century. What does this mean? I’m not entirely sure, but I’ll attempt to summarize what I’ve learned this semester, and hopefully frame the role of technology in education using a globalization perspective:

Globalization: Capitalism, information technologies, and other forces compel countries to more closely interact with each other but also put them in fierce competition in a world market.  These forces influence economy, public policy, and trickle down to local issues.

Some effects of globalization:

• The United States is the center of globalization trends – we drive most of the world’s economy, influence international policy, and financial transactions.
• The prime paradigm is capitalism – a faithful reliance on the market to drive decisions.
• Global forces like the World Bank promote decentralization and privatization.  Governments get out of the way, leave services to private groups.
• Inherent in capitalism is an unequal distribution of wealth. Having wealth generates more wealth, having no resources leaves countries at a severe disadvantage.
• Technology is one kind of resource and wealth. Countries that have technology, use it to develop new products, markets, ideas… and financial power.

What are globalization effects on Education (in the U.S.)

• Heightened competition between nations to develop an educated labor force; nations need a competitive niche.
• Education is seen as a mechanical process – develop basic skills, technical skills, competitive skills.
• Movements like standards and testing develop from this view of education.
• The cultural philosophy of capitalism, decentralization, and privatization manifest in strategies such as independent schools, charter schools, and vouchers.
• Higher education (colleges and universities) are more closely tied to the private sector – it is a necessary reality.
• Technology is seen as a key area for education, but how is technology important?
  • View 1 -People trained directly in the hard sciences and technology fields contribute to those lucrative markets.
  • View 2 – Information technologies impact how people work, play, gain information, and participate in communities. Those who can use IT to further their own aims win out, those without access or skills lose out in the new world.

What does this mean for the role of computer technology in schooling? My globalization readings have taken a decidedly economic bent, but I agree with it to a large extent… we are sometimes loathe to admit it, but our education system and policy decisions have underlying economic motivations.

For example, questions of equity are concerned with social outcomes – are students passing standardized tests, are they getting into college, which leads to better paying jobs and life outcomes?

Questions of digital divide are similar – do students have access to technology? so they can participate in a world that increasingly uses information technology, so they have opportunities to achieve in the sciences and technology, so they might do better in school, and get to college, and get higher paying jobs and have better lives… on and on.

There are lots of discussions on how technology enhances the classroom, but I am still searching for a clear statement on “why” we want to use technology to enhance the classroom. Student achievement? To create better writers? To achieve in the sciences and technology? One must ask why we want to do these things.

I don’t have answers yet, but I hope this post will be helpful to anyone who wants to invoke the terms “global”, “21st century”, “information technology skills” or other buzzwords when speaking of school reform and technology.