a summary of the information shared in the session：

The video begins with Professor Sian Bayne from the University of Edinburgh introducing Professor Neil’s excellence and authority. Professor Neil’s mention of his experience in Australia struck him right A wake-up call for the climate crisis.

He started with a hard-hitting question: “Do we really need digital education?” He thinks digital education is a dangerous overshoot. The overuse of technology has led to a rapid decline in our storage space. Current consumption patterns of EDTech are detrimental to sustainable development. He believes that using digital technology to achieve Sustainable Development Goals is a difficult goal to achieve because many of the problems are caused by technology. The first point he makes is that technological advances do not make education more equitable. Much of the software is designed not to make education more interesting but to monitor it. He believes that the scientific and technological education we have developed is a completely wrong route. The emergence of more and more technology and education technology has caused us to pay a huge ecological and environmental cost. He gave an example: The amount of energy consumed by Bitcoin is astronomical. New technologies that use a lot of energy to create quickly turn into e-waste, which requires expensive disposal.

His second claim is that technology is killing us. Technology is killing more and more people who really care about the environment. Many big Internet companies fund educational institutions and professors who advocate moderate criticism. This will make more people reluctant to deeply denounce the bad effects of technology on the environment. Three different responses will lead to a different future. Making the whole education technology green will be a revolution. He said that social and environmental issues are like two sides of the same coin. We should record the disadvantages of current technology and try to find solutions. At last, experiment with the feasibility of the scheme immediately.

On reflection, I was surprised to find that there are many aspects that I had not noticed before, such as the surge in electricity use every year after the implementation of big-screen education, the increasing number of electronic devices occupying our lives, and the destruction of soil and water by various electronic waste. Educational institutions have a responsibility to assess the environmental footprint as the most important part of overall human development. Educators should try to promote the dangers of current technology overuse and the direction of green technology.

In fact, when I chose this topic, I did not realize the seriousness of the problem or even have any sense of crisis at all. By participating in this activity, I was able to connect digital education and sustainable development. I’ve been thinking a lot about the pressure that rapid technological development is putting on the environment. This lecture also brought me a new direction of thinking.

Reference

Media Hopper create. Media Hopper Create – The University of Edinburgh Media Platform. (n.d.). https://media.ed.ac.uk/playlist/dedicated/79280571/1_6u9a41zh/1_l7anxlgx