This paper is a continuation of a panel discussion ‘The Digital Backlash in Education: Critical and Postdigital Perspectives’Footnote1 where Sarah Hayes, Petar Jandrić, Felicitas Macgilchrist, and Neil Selwyn reflected on the current political pushback against digital technologies in schools. The panel was moderated by Ingrid Forsler and Saga Hansén, who also initiated this conversation to follow up on some of the themes raised in the discussion.
The panelists emphasized that although a rapid de-digitalization of schools might be insufficiently considered and possibly counterproductive, we do need another kind of digital backlash that considers questions of social justice, inclusion, and the diverse experiences of teachers and learners in different contexts. But what kinds of backlash should we envision and how do we get there? To dig deeper into this question, each speaker was invited to reflect further on the topic through a set of questions, addressing what such an alternative backlash should be about as well as where and how to continue this discussion about what kinds of technologies and education we want for the future.