Ghoulish EdTech Innovations

In this episode we speak with Tanner Mirrlees about the dark and underdiscussed world of education technology and the information communication technology (ICT) industry. We explore the relationship between the EdTech industry and venture capital, the expanding power of the GAFAM (Google-Amazon-Facebook-Apple-Microsoft), and the acceleration of these processes due to COVID-19. We conclude by discussing the impacts of EdTech on the labour movement.

Tanner Mirrlees is an associate professor in the Communication and Digital Media Studies program at Ontario Tech University. His new book, co-authored with Shahid Alvi, is called EdTech Inc.: Selling, Automating and Globalizing Higher Education in the Digital Age.