Using Speculative Fiction to Navigate the Edtech Schism
This interactive forum session uses speculative fiction to help educators navigate the polarized high-tech vs np-tech debate. Participants will be immersed in the short story Same Time Tomorrow (2040), which juxtaposes two elementary schools: one embracing hyper-personalized AI-driven learning, the other focused on embodied, social and nature-based education.
The story evaluated against Hrastinski’s (2023) criteria for educational fiction, serves as a neutral driver for critical reflection. Following the audio story, a facilitated discussion will use polling and structured prompts to explore the values and trade-offs like efficiency vs. connection, data vs. experience present in each future. The discussion is framed by critical postdigital theory (Selwyn, 2020; Zuboff, 2019) moving beyond simple tool adoption to examine the political and economic choices shaping our educational systems.
Participants will take away a practical reflective method and critical questions to apply in their own contexts, fostering more intentional, values-driven leadership in an era of rapid technological change.
Eduardo Silva, Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK), CN
Eduardo Silva is an international elementary teacher, summer camp enthusiast and MBA in Educational Leadership candidate at TAMK. He bridges academic rigor with narrative flair, using speculative Social Science Fiction to critique competing educational trends. His work explores the intersection of high-tech innovation and human-centered learning in schools of the future. Silva challenges present technological choices through storytelling that makes us reflect on our current educational values.
