Globalisation and reflexivity: some challenges for research into quality education mediated by ICTs

Abstract

Globalisation can be characterised, Giddens (1994) suggests, as a process of 'intensified reflexivity' that creates the conditions for 'a world of clever people'. Information and Communication Technologies (lCTs) are fundamental to globalisation and they have also been incorporated into the new educational technologies deployed by educators to (re)create 'a world of clever people'. Together, education and the ICTs are strong forces for globalisation where both curriculum and pedagogy shape the knowledge and values of the rising generation of 'clever people'. This chapter posits some research issues and questions that might be usefully pursued in transnational collaborative research or are germane to its conduct and contexts. These matters include: the place of leTs in research work; the challenge of globally inclusive curricula and the impact of English as the global language; and ICTs decentring the research centre