2023 Conference
2nd Annual Virtual Conference | 10am-3pm EST on August 3rd & 4th
The Civics of Technology conference will be keynoted by Dr. Luci Pangrazio on Thursday and Dr. Roxana Marachi on Friday.
The support of our two sponsors—Loyola University Maryland School of Education and the University of North Texas College of Education—allowed us to compensate our keynote speakers for their talks. Thank you to each of them for their generosity.
Conference Schedule
Per our mission, the Civics of Technology project is committed to confronting systems of oppression—both inside and outside of the area of technology. While this conference occurs online, most of our participants reside in stolen lands of Indigenous nations. We should recognize the ways that Indigenous sovereignty are still at stake in the technological realm. Participants can support Indigenous people and nations by learning more about Kim TallBear’s (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate) Indigenous Science, Technology, and Society work, or listening to the following podcasts discuss contemporary examples of ongoing issues: “Big Tech Won’t Revitalize Indigenous Languages with Keoni Mahelona” (Hawai'i), “An Indigenous Perspective on Generative AI” with Michael Running Wolf (Northern Cheyenne). We also recognize the ways that technology have been used in and out of schools to both extend and amplify systems of oppression that marginalize and surveil People of Color, queer people, people with dis/ability among other groups. Participants should respect the preferences and dignity of fellow conference participants, including at the conference. Please use pronouns if listed and respect the social media sharing preferences of presenters. Our conference also aims to be accessible and all sessions should turn on the option to “show captions.” Moreover, we hope participants will commit to advancing more just futures. Please contact Dan or Marie or use our contact form if you have any problems or concerns during the conference.
📹 = Recorded Session 💻 = Social Media Sharing Encouraged
🛑 = No Social Media Sharing
Read our most recent blog post on the conference and use the #CivicsOfTech23 hashtag on Twitter and other platforms.
Day 1:Thursday, August 3rd
10am-10:50am EST
“The importance of critical digital literacies: A manifesto for action”
Thursday Keynote
📹 💻
Dr. Luci Pangrazio (she/her), Deakin University
Dr. Pangrazio is an Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy in the Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin University. She is currently studying datafication, data literacies and the gig economy. Her research interests include digital and data literacies, young people's digital worlds, the gig economy, platform studies and platform mediated labour, and creative and critical research methods.
Dr. Pangrazio’s current project investigates representations of digital data to build knowledge and understanding of issues such as data privacy and protection. She is also a Chief Investigator on two ARC projects: 'Data Smart Schools: Enhancing the Use of Digital Data in Secondary Schools' (led by Monash University, 2019-2021) and the 'Australian Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child' (led by QUT, 2021-2028). Her previous project (2018-2020) involved working with Universidad de ORT Uruguay on developing children's data literacies.
Dr. Pangrazio’s most recent book 'Learning to Live with Datafication: Educational Case Studies and Initiatives from Around the World' was co-authored with Julian Sefton-Green and published in March 2022 (Routledge). She is also co-authoring a book with Neil Selwyn called 'Critical Data Literacies' (MIT Press, 2023). Her previous book is 'Young People's Literacies in the Digital Age: Continuities, Conflicts and Contradictions' (Routledge, 2019).
Watch Dr. Pangrazio’s opening keynote.
11-11:50am EST
Room 1
Social Robotics, Ethics and Care: A Challenge for Educational Professionalism
The growing integration of social robotics in care contexts raises important ethical issues that require constant and careful investigation. This workshop aims to reflect on the open issue of how to ethically operate in these areas from the perspective of "good care," focusing the debate on the professionalism required from an educational and pedagogical standpoint.
📹 💻
Maria Valentini, Ph.D. (@MariaValen95530) and Juliana Elisa Raffaghelli (@Julianar71)
Room 2
Critical questions, speculative futures: Using speculative exercises to work against techno-inevitability in a First Year Seminar
In this session, we will share how we used speculative exercises as a way to reclaim agency and work against techno-inevitability - to engage with hope and action - within the context of an undergraduate First Year Seminar class titled Questioning Technology.
📹 💻
Dr. Sarah Lohnes Watulak (she/hers) (@sarahlw6), Dr. Amy Collier (she/her) (@amcollier) and Sam Barnard
Room 3
Reimagining Justice Beyond Policing
📹 💻
Brooklyn Northcross, Genevieve Bineza, Kimberly Cross, Moses Njuguna, Sakariya Mohamud, Jules Mopano, Masha Miura, and Dan Wey from The Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab
12-12:50pm EST
Room 1
Resisting Algorithmic Harm: Community Mobilization in Labor, Criminal Justice & Education
We examine case studies of community mobilization against datafication, surveillance and automated decision-making in labor, criminal justice & education.
📹 💻
Claudia Scholz (Cloud-ee-ah showltz) (she/her) (@scholz), Jaila Adair (she/her) and Vikram Prasad (he/him)
Room 2
TechnoEthical Framework for Teachers
A TechnoEthical Framework for Teachers (TEFT) is introduced to aid educators in selecting and employing educational technologies in ethically sound and pedagogically sensitive ways in their classrooms. TEFT was developed over multiple years in the context of a large educational technology course in Canada.
📹
Cathy Adams and Sean Groten
Room 3
Reimagining Immigration Justice: Tools and Practices for Tech Freedom Schools
📹 💻
Virginia Cobbs, Jalynn Thompson, Gurjeet Singh, Jordan Johnson,
Mary DeVellis, and Nikhil Darmaraj from The Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab
1-1:50pm EST
Room 1
The Drowning of Teacher Voices by means of Techno-solutionism and Neoliberal Interference
While everyone hollers over what is best for education regarding technology we rarely, if ever, hear directly from the experts themselves. In this socratic seminar style presentation, hear directly from teachers at various levels in their careers regarding how technology has impacted their profession. This session will allow for ample opportunities for audience engagement so bring your notebook!
📹 💻
Molly Esquivel (@molly_esq) and Dr. Velislava (Veli) Hillman (@velislava777)
Room 2
Investigating CIRCLE: Convergence of Learning Experiences
CIRCLE reimagines how undergraduate students will be educated by integrating responsible computing into existing undergraduate courses across the Humanities, Library, and Information Sciences, Social Sciences, and Computational fields. The goals are to focus on thinking more critically about the design and use of technology, deploying cultural sensitivity to recognize when and how technology may perpetuate or deepen inequality, and creating more equitable systems to build more responsible ethical tools.
📹 💻
Dr. Michele A.L. Villagran (Vee-a-grraun) (she/her/ella) and Dr. darra hofman (she/her/they/them)
Room 3
A Muddle of Chatbots: Questions for teachers and students about generative AI
Muddle is an anthropological term used for the mess things often find themselves in before we attempt to tidy them up (Bateson, 1972). This session will be a facilitated discussion for teacher educators and students about the effects of generative AI on teaching and learning.
Heather Barahona (Heh-thur Bear-uh-hone-uh) (she/they)
2-2:50pm EST
Room 1
Black Life in the Age of AI
This session focuses on the current state of AI and its roles in reproducing harm. Together we will brainstorm possibilities for the direction of this technology, gather resources, and begin creating art around the topic.
📹 💻
Stephanie T. Jones
Room 2
The Promises and Pitfalls of Virtual Reality in Schools
In this session, we examine the potential benefits and challenges that VR holds for classrooms, interrogate some of the more pervasive narratives about VR for learning, and offer ways to envision and encourage justice-centered and culturally sustaining work in VR.
📹
Becky Mazur, PhD (Maze-er) (she/her) and Sahara Pradhan (she/her) (Sa-HAR-ah)
3-3:30pm EST
Wrap-up and Reflections
This session will allow attendees will join together to participate in wrap-up and reflections on the keynote and other sessions from the day. Participants can also ask questions about the Civics of Technology project. Please just stay in the keynote Zoom to join this session.
Day 2: Friday, August 4th
10am-10:50am EST
Opening Plenary Session
Practicing Everyday Resistance and Refusal of Ed-Tech
Facilitators: Charles Logan (he/him; @charleswlogan) and Michelle Ciccone (she/her; @MMFCiccone)
Panelists: Marika Pfefferkorn (she/her; @Maptruenorth @tciamn), Autumm Caines (she/they; @Autumm@mastodon.social), Ryan Smits, & Jamie Gravell (she/her; @dontworryteach)
In this plenary session, panelists will discuss their experiences of resistance and refusal as methods for countering the ed-tech imaginary and its harms. Panelists and audience members will reflect on how they navigate the tensions between their ethical commitments to social justice and the reality their job may necessitate using technology that runs counter to those commitments.
11-11:50am EST
Room 1
Exploring the relationship between EdTech Teacher Ambassador and Multi-level Marketing Programs
In this session I draw comparisons between multi-level marketing companies like LulaRoe and EdTech companies like Nearpod to highlight similarities between teacher ambassador programs and pyramid schemes. I present an illustration of what I define as the Teacher Ambassador Pyramid Scheme, which is broken into three tiers (experts, influencers, and innovators), in order to discuss the implications of neoliberal capitalism's entanglement with the public school sector.
💻
Dr. Kali Thompson (Kay-lee Tomp-sun) (she/her) (@KaliThomphson2nd)
Room 2
Reimagining Labor Justice: Tools and Practices for Tech Freedom Schools
📹 💻
Asia Matthews, Ozichi Okorum, Afzal Hussain, Jane Casleman, Danyal Jawed, and Allan Gikonyo from The Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab
12-12:50pm EST
Room 1
Digital Literacies as Foundational for Adult Education in a Post-2020 Context
This session will explore the digital literacies of smartphone and computer use as foundational for an adult education practice rooted in this post-2020 context. We will explore scholarship on radical literacy practices and how that has shaped curriculum design as well as lesson planning for adult (digital) literacy education moving forward.
📹 💻
Sacharja Cunningham (suh-car-juh) (he/they) (Instagram: sacharja_is_home, Twitter: @sacharjaishome, Facebook: Sacharja is Home)
Room 2
Critical Perspectives on Ed Tech in Teacher Education
This is a two part session. Part 1 is a roundtable discussion to address what exactly we mean by "critical perspectives on ed tech" in teacher education. Part 2 will be an interactive workshop session where we share practical strategies for teacher education.
📹 💻
Jacob Pleasants, Amy Mueller, Jeffrey Radloff and Sumreen Asim
Room 3
Reimagining Health Justice: Tools and Practices for Tech Freedom Schools
📹 💻
Skye Margiotta, Sara Alway, Aditi Desai, Divraj Singh,
Suniya Nsheti, Ashley Nurse, and Mikala Parnell from The Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab
1-1:50pm EST
Room 1
Mitigating the Potential Problems of Mixed-Reality Teaching Simulations
Mursion, one of the most prominent mixed-reality teaching simulators which allow pre-service teachers to develop high-leverage teaching practices in a virtual classroom with student avatars, has recently been accused of digital blackface. This session will review the proliferation of mixed-reality teaching simulations in higher education and engage attendees in a discussion of ways to utilize the technology while mitigating potential harms.
💻
Erin Anderson (she/her) (@ErinAndersonGA)
Room 2
Ethical Literacy Instruction with ChatGPT
📹 💻
Sarah Burriss and Melanie Hundley
Room 3
Reimagining Education Justice: Tools and Practices for Tech Freedom Schools
📹 💻
Tsion Kergo, Le'Naya Wilkerson, Nicholas Crowley, Lajayzia Wright, Jamie Goodwin,
Lauren Johnson, and Skye Margiotta from The Ida B. Wells Just Data Lab
2-2:50pm EST
Breaking Free from Blockchaining Babies and "Cradle-to-Career" Data Traps
Friday Keynote
📹 💻
Dr. Roxana Marachi, San José State University
Dr. Roxana Marachi is a Professor of Education at San José State University where she teaches courses in the Department of Teacher Education and the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership. Dr. Marachi’s research publications have focused on evaluations of policies and programs related to school violence prevention, high-stakes testing, privatization, and the technologization of teaching and learning. Her current interests are focused on strategies for the prevention of data harms and on bridging research-to-practice gaps in the integration of emerging technologies in education. Marachi is a fellow of the National Education Policy Center, served as education chair of the CA/HI State NAACP from 2019 to 2021, and has been active in local, state, and national efforts to strengthen and protect public education.
Watch Dr. Marachi’s closing keynote.
3-3:30pm EST
Wrap-up and Reflections
This session will allow attendees will join together to participate in wrap-up and reflections on the keynote and other sessions from the day. Participants can also ask questions about the Civics of Technology project. Please just stay in the keynote Zoom to join this session.