How dominant digital technologies in schools influence the enactment of curriculum change

This paper focuses on a large-scale curriculum change in second level education in Ireland to show how the dominance of existing technologies in schools, in this case slideware technologies, can influence the enactment of large-scale curriculum change. Through a conceptual review of the existing literature published in relation to the rollout of the curriculum changes and digital technology use in schools, the paper highlights how slideware technologies can influence the ways in which students are encouraged to present and evidence their learning as part of mandated project work in schools. Furthermore, the paper contends that an emphasis on such software tools, while aiming to prepare students with digital skills for the future workplace, also inculcates the student into a corporate culture with its related neoliberal and consumerist ideologies. What could be seen as an innocuous piece of software in schools, can have a significant backwash effect on how curriculum change is enacted by teachers and experienced by learners in classrooms. The paper concludes by considering what is also locked-out through the dominance of such software.