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neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn
@neilselwyn.bsky.social
2K followers 160 following 130 posts

sociology of education + digital | Monash University | research interests: automation, AI, datafication, digital degrowth | host of 'Education Technology Society' podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1301377

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Education 38%
Political science 16%
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neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · 3d
What values should be driving the EdTech of the future?

New podcast episode - listen to my conversation with @arathings.bsky.social about what digital education might look like if reimagined around principles of reparation, sovereignty, care and democratisation

www.buzzsprout.com/1301377/epis...

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · 4d
Decrecimiento Digital - Un Ensayo Para Repensar De Raíz Nuestros Futuros Digitales

... la traducción al español de mi nuevo libro se publicará en marzo de 2026!
www.catedra.com/libro/teorem...
Ediciones Cátedra
Ediciones Cátedra
www.catedra.com

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · 8d
How can we make sense of the current popularist 'digital backlash' in education? ... and how can we make sure that any rejection of tech considers questions of social justice, inclusion, and the diverse experiences of teachers and learners in different contexts? link.springer.com/article/10.1...
headlines about school phone bans, Sweden's de-digitisation policies, and a parent lobby group calling to "put the brakes on edtech"

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · 9d
Proposals for a UN online university for the poorest countries in the world ... Tony Bates provides some initial details: www.tonybates.ca/2025/11/10/a...
A United Nations online university for the poorest countries in the world: dream or reality? | Tony Bates
www.tonybates.ca

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · 9d
kudos to whoever was responsible for this nice piece of Reddit trolling in response to a finance guy looking for a quick heads-up on how best to understand ed-tech .... "at first this will seem wrong but push through"

@audreywatters.bsky.social
ORIGINAL POST: New to the EdTech space and trying to get smart fast I work for an investment firm and last week, my boss told me I'll be in charge of covering EdTech. Essentially, finding investment opportunities in this space, but this is a total new world for me, I can't pretend I’m an expert overnight. But I also don’t want to be the stereotypical finance person who treats EdTech like generic SaaS and asks all the wrong questions. I wanna know how operators think, what excites them and what worries them... My question is, for me to understand the sector properly, so I show up with more context and less cluelessness, what resources would you recommend me to check for a deep dive? Could be research, analysts or writers who genuinely get Edtech, newsletters, events, communities, courses, whatever you consider “real” and not surface-level hype. The real stuff, day to day stuff... sales cycles tied to academic calendars, district procurement politics, institutional budgeting, the weird B2B/B2C hybrids, what actually creates stickiness etc... Tyvm!! REPLY: You need to read a lot of Neil Selwyn and Audrey Watters. At first this will seem wrong but push through.

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · 19d
As South Korea 🇰🇷 announces another big push for AI in education ('AI for All' initiative), I was interviewed at length by one the KyungHyang daily newspaper.

The title sums it up!

"AI answers education’s problems? Education using AI will be ‘second rate education"

www.khan.co.kr/article/2025...

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · 20d
🎙️🎧new podcast episode: Is using GenAI in education ‘pedagogically irresponsible’?

www.buzzsprout.com/1301377/epis...
Using GenAI in education is ‘pedagogically irresponsible’ Education Technology Society podcast new episode with Dr. Gene Fenaldy Quote from the episode: “When I first went to university, it was a transformative experience. I didn't meet chatbots. I met people there who were role models for a different kind of life. My worry is that watering down that transformative experience where you meet people, you meet role models, and replacing that with chatbots cuts the value out of education entirely”

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · 22d
"Learning How To Learn In the Age of GenAI" ... new 30 minute discussion of education & AI from Australia's national public broadcaster (ABC Radio National) - click here to listen: www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...
Learning how to learn in the age of generative AI - ABC listen
It's exactly three years since ChatGPT burst onto the scene. In that short period of time the process of academic assessment has been in upheaval. Across the world educators are trying to address how ...
www.abc.net.au

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Oct 27
... I was one of many people interviewed for the piece - we talked for way longer than is usually the case for stories like this, and there was follow-up queries from Wired's *fact-checkers*. Would love to see more of this type of media coverage of AI & education .... there is plenty to investigate!

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Oct 27
It is great that Wired is actually paying journalists to do the careful critical investigations like this on the realities of the AI boosterism that is now coming to a head in our schools ...

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Oct 27
Wired has just published an in-depth piece on Alpha Schools ... giving us a deep-dive on the realities of AI-driven schools sold on the promise of students plugged into personalised learning systems and doing ('crushing') a full day's schoolwork in only 2 hours: www.wired.com/story/ai-tea...
Parents Fell in Love With Alpha School’s Promise. Then They Wanted Out
In Brownsville, Texas, some families found a buzzy new school’s methods—surveillance of kids, software in lieu of teachers—to be an education in and of itself.
www.wired.com

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Oct 25
'What's At Stake? Young People's Take on AI and Education' - brilliant looking zine produced by young people in the UK telling education leaders & teachers what they want 'responsible AI' to look like in their classrooms.

ai-and-education.shorthandstories.com/zine/index.h...
What's at stake? Young people's take on AI and education
This zine represents the messages young people wanted to share with decision-makers and educators, to help you make responsible AI a reality in education.
ai-and-education.shorthandstories.com

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Oct 24
🎙️ Niels Kerssens & I talk about the platformisation of Dutch primary schools ... and how schools can reclaim a degree of
‘digital autonomy’ through new collaborative and non-corporate forms of ed-tech ...

www.buzzsprout.com/1301377/epis...

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Oct 23
"Ruinous EdTech – higher education and computing's excesses" - Colm O'Neill is giving an online seminar at Edinburgh Uni (Dec 11th) exploring how ed-tech can engage with ideas of digital degrowth, decolonial computing etc.

Book your place now!
www.de.ed.ac.uk/event/colm-o...
Colm O’Neill: Ruinous EdTech – higher education and computing's excesses | Digital Education
www.de.ed.ac.uk

Reposted by Neil Selwyn

giovannamas.bsky.social
Giovanna Mascheroni @giovannamas.bsky.social · Oct 13
@neilselwyn.bsky.social “Young people spend way more time outside school, so really we should be talking about how parents and families regulate their children’s device use at home,” he says. “Unfortunately, this isn’t something that most politicians want to do." www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Two years after school phone bans were implemented in Australia, what has changed?
Phone bans are now well-established in many Australian primary and secondary schools. Have they made a difference?
www.theguardian.com

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Oct 13
... and here is the Guardian article in full(!) - www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Two years after school phone bans were implemented in Australia, what has changed?
Phone bans are now well-established in many Australian primary and secondary schools. Have they made a difference?
www.theguardian.com

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Oct 13
It is two years on from many Australian states announcing school smartphone bans. I'm happy to have been included in today's Guardian article on whether the phone bans were the gamechanger we were told they'd be. FWIW, here are my full comments to the journalist: criticaledtech.com/2025/10/13/s...
Smartphone bans in schools – how much has changed?
It is two years on from many Australian states announcing school smartphone bans. I was contacted for comment on ‘whether or not the phone bans were the gamechanger we think they were’. The final p…
criticaledtech.com

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Oct 11
Aidan Walker on why "now is *not* the time to ban phones ...
why Jonathan Haidt sucks"

howtodothingswithmemes.substack.com/p/now-is-not...
If you take Haidt’s premise that phones and social media are hurting children as true, then you should question whether the right policy remedy is an intervention in the way teachers run their classrooms and what children are allowed to see and do online Why not fine the companies for endangering kids or create new rules they have to follow? Why not introduce competition into a monopolized market space, so that parents and kids have more choice in how to spend their time online? Why not put consumer safety standards on the algorithms, the software, the devices themselves? Why is the preferred tool to save a generation from anguish and our democracy from decline a patchwork of laws governing the decisions consumers can make, instead of a strategy to hold bad actors and industry to account?

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Oct 11
One of the benefits of our kid's forced-exposure to 'AI search' results is that they are seeing GenAI/ Google Search deteriorate in front of their eyes. Now Google seems to have trouble with simply presenting symbols and words as humans understand them ...
screenshot from a Google search result - AI overview advising the "standard cupcakes typically take 15 to 25 minutes to bake at $350^\circ$F ($180^\circ$C)" ... presumably confusing the ASCII codes with the symbols that should be presented?

Reposted by Neil Selwyn

benpatrickwill.bsky.social
Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · Oct 2
Cool parcel in the post of an "Ed-tech Agitprop Pack" unexpectedly sent by @neilselwyn.bsky.social

"The ed-tech that we're currently dealing with is not a done deal!" as the accompanying note says.
Photo of a tote bag with printed text "Distrusting educational technology" and stickers reading "Get AI out of education" and "Ed-tech is full of bullshit"

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Oct 1
Should teachers use AI to write emails to parents? ... listen to me talk with Brad Robinson about the rise of AI tools now offering to do teacher tasks, such as lesson planning, grading assignments and writing feedback. A way to 'work smarter' or a slippery slope?! www.buzzsprout.com/1301377/epis...

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Sep 24
For those who don't know, I produce a podcast featuring some of the latest thinking in the critical studies of education & tech.

We have just kicked off our third season with an episode on 'Technosolutionism' ... please take a listen & subscribe!

www.buzzsprout.com/1301377
A grey poster with black writing and a pixelated hand pointing to the text. Season three now starting! Education Technology Society - a critical podcast about digital education.

Reposted by Neil Selwyn

benfictional.bsky.social
Benjamin Andrew @benfictional.bsky.social · Sep 23
Frankie Focus is New York's mascot for phone-free schools, which is incredible but I feel like the design could have been work shopped a bit more.

Reposted by Neil Selwyn

katemannell.bsky.social
Kate Mannell @katemannell.bsky.social · Sep 22
Are you a PhD student whose work investigates digital technology in contexts of teaching and learning? Apply for our symposium! We are primarily seeking in-person presenters but have limited online slots available if you can't make it to Melbourne. More info: redi.deakin.edu.au/2025/09/call...
Call for Papers – HDR Symposium on Digital Technology and Education | Centre for Research for Educational Impact
Digital Technology and Education: Approaches, Industries, Practices The Learners in a Digital World research group at the Centre for Research for Educational Impact (REDI) is hosting a Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Symposium on Friday 31 October 2025 at Deakin Downtown and online. The symposium aims to bring together PhD scholars whose research addresses digital […]
redi.deakin.edu.au

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Sep 21
technologically advance a band.

Rocket from the Crypto

Reposted by Neil Selwyn

civicsoftech.bsky.social
Civics of Technology @civicsoftech.bsky.social · Sep 21
Speaking of @neilselwyn.bsky.social, check out today's blog post with Adriana Szili sharing "New resources for teachers and student teachers: AI Dilemmas": www.civicsoftechnology.org/blog/2dp8ng2...

Materials include posters, handouts, & slides to help reflect on real-world dilemmas of AI in edu.

Reposted by Neil Selwyn, Philip Bell

charleswlogan.bsky.social
Charles Logan @charleswlogan.bsky.social · Sep 17
New @civicsoftech.bsky.social book club!

I'm leading a discussion of @neilselwyn.bsky.social's new book "Digital Degrowth: Radically Rethinking Our Digital Futures" on Tues, Nov 11, from 8-9pm ET. Dr. Selwyn will be joining us too.

Register at our events page: www.civicsoftechnology.org/events
A photograph of me holding the book "Digital Degrowth: Radically Rethinking Our Digital Futures" by Neil Selwyn.

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Sep 11
new podcast episode! Why does education keep falling for techno-solutionism, despite the fact that technology does not seem to drastically improve education? Listen to Dr. Ezechiel Thibaud talk through the perennial problem of 'techno-solutionism' in education ... www.buzzsprout.com/1301377/epis...

Reposted by Neil Selwyn

disabilitystor1.bsky.social
Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · Sep 9
Literally the entire point of a tattoo is the human element and interaction.
Working with your tattoo artist, personalizing your designs, its all so intimate and rightly so. Thats what its all about!
Why do techbros try to ruin EVERYTHING?
One of the last places we might expect artificial intelligence to show up is the tattoo parlor, with its mix of artistry, personal expression and permanent ink. But a high-end ink shop in New York City is now taking appointments for an AI-driven tattoo robot. The technology is the product of Blackdot, an Austin, Texas-based startup that has been pursuing a vision of autonomous, AI-fueled tattooing since 2019. Blackdot—which has raised roughly $7 million from a combination of strategic and angel investors, crowdfunding and venture capital—says its device’s precision boosts predictability and reduces pain. “There are people that are wondering if technology should make its way into the tattoo industry,” said founder Joel Pennington. “But that was what happened when Gutenberg came out with a printing press, and everyone thought that books should be handwritten.”

neilselwyn.bsky.social
Neil Selwyn @neilselwyn.bsky.social · Sep 5
🎙️ one of the great things about public broadcaster is having a half-hour radio program on the topics of "existential hope" & "digital degrowth" - very happy to have been involved!

Listen here: www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...
Existential hope vs Existential Fear - ABC listen
Existential risks to human life abound, from the threat of nuclear Armageddon; to an uninhabitable planet; or an AI-induced apocalypse. Understanding such risks and how we can best respond to them is ...
www.abc.net.au