JNU | RTI | Directory | Contact Us | Emergency Services | List of Holidays
-A A +A

ZHCES organises a seminar by Prof. Patricia Burch

ZHCES organises a seminar by Prof. Patricia Burch

Event From Date
Event End Date
Event Title
ZHCES organises a seminar by Prof. Patricia Burch
Event Details

ZHCES Seminar Series

 

TOPIC:

Technocentrism and social fields in the Indian EdTech movement: formation, reproduction and resistance

 

 

SPEAKER:

Prof. Patricia Burch

Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California, California USA

 

About the Speaker: Patricia Burch (PhD, Stanford University) is an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles California. Burch’s research focuses on education policy, organizational and institutional theory, qualitative and mixed methods research, and evidence based policy and practice. Burch's recent publications include Mixed Methods Research for Policy and Program Evaluation (SAGE, 2016). Hidden Markets: The New Education Privatization, (Routledge, 2009), Equal Scrutiny: Privatization and Accountability in Digital Education(Harvard Education Press, 2015). Burch’s work has appeared in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Teachers College Record, Educational Researcher, and other notable journals. Burch regularly collaborates with government agencies and non-governmental organizations on program evaluation and in improving program design and policy effectiveness, with specific attention to equity and quality.

 

Abstract:  All over the globe, educational technology (EdTech) is being sold to schools as a central mechanism for improving access to quality learning for high poverty populations. There is a growing scholarship that interrogates the institutional drivers of the ‘EdTech craze’. Building on this work, this paper examines how technocentrism as a specific strain of neoliberalism is reflected at both the organizational and institutional levels, both by private and public sectors in the case of school education in India. We argue that using institutional theory to explain complex multi-layered reforms means looking in tandem at macro principles defined through interactions in the organizational field and the re-experiencing and transformation of those processes at the micro level.

Keywords: Educational technology (EdTech), new institutionalism, organizational field, sensemaking, neoliberalism, India

 

DATE: 28th March, 2019 (Thursday)

TIME: 3:00 pm

Room No. 207, SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES II

(All are Welcome)

 
 

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.