The sociology of education and digital technology: past, present and future

During the past fifteen years of his career, John Furlong’s research and writing has focused – in part on digital technologies and people’s everyday experiences of education. While hardly a technology expert, John’s work has shown an acute awareness of the significance of computers, the internet and mobile telephony in making sociological sense of education. This paper contrasts the limited visibility of such issues within the sociology of education over the past thirty years with how the present situation appears to be improving during the 2010s. The paper also identifies opportunities for future work that engages more in the co-production, development and design of new forms of educational technology. As such it is concluded that a future sociology of education and technology needs to be developed that acts not only against, but also in and beyond, the dominant field of education technology.