Toward a Civics of Technology

Teacher educators often encourage technology integration as a means to improve education. However, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the acceleration of more invasive technologies offering quick "fixes" in schools and society. Building on the assumption that technologies are not neutral and neither are the societies into which they are introduced, we offer an ecological and critical vision whereby teacher educators might critically inquire with their students into downsides and harms of technologies as they work toward more educational and just futures. Teacher educators can encourage future and in-service teachers can enact a civics of technology by rejecting their role as passive users of technologies and acting as citizens who make informed decisions for more humane and just classrooms and communities. The authors share their efforts through the recently launched Civics of Technology project to create critical community and offer edtech audits as an illustrative example of practice.