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“25 Years of Ed Tech” by Weller (2020) with “Between the Chapters: OER Podcast” (2021) influenced me to consider how educational technology plays a role in justice. Thus, I will share Catherine Cronin’s significant contributions to the field of educational technology. Catherine Cronin is an open educator focusing on social justice approaches (Cronin, 2022). Cronin’s contributions to educational technology include open-access publications such as; Feminisms, technologies and learning: continuities and contestations; Framing open educational practices from a social justice perspective; and Theorizing progress: Women in science, engineering, and technology in higher education. In addition, Catherine Cronin’s website captures an extensive collection of scholarship and creative works.
Cronin’s open-access approach is necessary to the field of education and technology. First, decades of research show inequities in access to technology (Bali et al., 2020). Poor, minority and female students have less access (Bali et al., 2020). In Cronin’s collaborative research, such as Framing open educational practices from a social justice perspective, Cronin applied feminist thinking and challenged assumptions to promote justice through open education practices (Bali et al.,2020). Second, Cronin contributes to conversations about digital literacies (Cronin, 2022). Recently, Cronin was the keynote speaker for the annual AMICAL (an international consortium of universities) conference (Cronin, 2022). The keynote presentation emphasised the need for critical digital and data literacies so that students can develop agency – as learners, creators, and collaborators (Cronin, 2020). Catherine Cronin has made significant contributions to the field of education and technology.
References
Bali, M., Cronin, C., & Jhangiani, R. S. (2020). Framing open education practice from a social justice perspective. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2020(1), 10. http//doi.org/10/5334/jime.565
Cronin, C. (2022). Catherine Cronin: Independent open educator, open researcher. https://catherinecronin.net/
Cronin, C. (2022). Critical digital literacies: Developing agency and sustaining hope in troubled times [Conference presentation]. AMICAL Consortium. https://www.amicalnet.org/sessions/cronin-keynote
Pasquini, L. (Host). (2021, January 21). Between the chapters: OER (No. 11) [Audio podcast episode]. In 25 Years of Ed Tech. Transistor. https://25years.opened.ca/2021/01/27/between-the-chapters-oer/
Weller, M. (2020). 25 years of ed tech. Athabasca University Press. https://doi.org/10.15215/aupress/9781771993050.01