Investing in Imagined Digital Futures: The Techno-Financial 'Futuring' of Edtech Investors in Higher Education

Autor/inn/en	Williamson, Ben; Komljenovic, Janja
Titel	Investing in Imagined Digital Futures: The Techno-Financial 'Futuring' of Edtech Investors in Higher Education
Quelle	In: Critical Studies in Education, 64 (2023) 3, S.234-249 (16 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Williamson, Ben) ORCID (Komljenovic, Janja)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1750-8487
DOI	10.1080/17508487.2022.2081587
Schlagwörter	Educational Technology; Educational Finance; Investment; Higher Education; Foreign Countries; Futures (of Society); Imagination; Expectation; Educational Practices; United Kingdom + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Unterrichtsmedien; Bildungsfonds; Investments; Geldanlage; Investiton; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Ausland; Future; Society; Zukunft; Expectancy; Erwartung; Bildungspraxis; Großbritannien
Abstract	Educational technology is the focus of increasing financial investment. In this article, we examine how edtech investors imagine and invest in the future of higher education through an empirical case study of a UK investing company. Utilising concepts and methods from economic sociology, we analyse how investment companies engage in techno-financial 'futuring' practices. We identify two kinds of futuring practices. First, investors' "imaginary" practices produce qualitative 'fictional expectations' about the future of education, supported by quantitative financial valuation practices that predict the monetary returns on investment available from funding edtech. Second, we analyse the specific investment-supporting "operations" of edtech investors, highlighting how imagined futures of education are funded into existence (or not) as investors select and support edtech products or services. In these ways, imaginaries of the future may be materialised in educational institutions through financial investments in specific edtech products. We particularly trace how investment imaginaries and operations shift from edtech markets as selling commodities to edtech industry controlling digital products and resources as assets. Therefore, the two identified complementary futuring practices function as processes of 'assetisation', aimed at turning educational services and resources into digital assets with calculable future value for edtech investors. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01