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Last month, with the #FemEdTech network, I was really excited to curate and amplify some of the voices that we know in the field of educational technology — who are feminists, who are proud women, scholars, educators, learners, and more. The purpose was to tweet, retweet, and amplify those in the community and others we should maybe hear about.  I was hoping to share voices from conversations and podcasts, to interviews, to stories, to things told on audio. And even amplify any talks that have been recorded, screencasts, or even a video of a presentation, at a panel, a conference, keynote, or some sort of event.

I really want to share the actual voices, and this is the reason why I thought I’d record my reflection with this post and not only put in written format. I think more women in the #FemEdTech community need to amplify what we do and how we speak. And in this little corner of the world, I think we can do that by sharing, sure the previous talks we have given, but also continuing to hold a mic up for those that contribute to the field, service, education, teaching, learning, and scholarship. I think that there’s a few different voices we’ve curated along the way and I encourage you to add to the open spreadsheet: http://bit.ly/femedtechvoices

So, there’s links for you to go ahead and suggest podcasts, interviews, talks, recordings, and others for you to share. I think there’s a number of barriers and when I go to any sort of conference, whether its technology, education, higher ed, and tech, the voices are often male and often limited.

Additionally, we have too few female hosts on podcasts or sharing their own experiences of presentations and voices. So, I’d like to see more of that.I think it’s great there’s groups like Women Talk Design that promotes speakers and women speakers’ bureaus, but I really think having women not only centered at a tech conference for them — but at a tech conference for everyone — brings about diversity and opens up the voices. We have no shortage of female leaders and women and those who identify as women in ed tech who can share their voice and should share the voice for the field. So, I hope to hear more of those as speakers, podcast hosts, and keynote talks.

I’m thinking back to the book that was written a few years ago by Rafranz Davis, on “The Missing Voices in Ed Tech” and how we can bring diversity into the field. She said that “the only way we can move together purposefully is to dialogue and make these subtle changes to impact how we educate.” She’s thinking about a K-12 friends in ed tech, but this also applies to everyone in higher ed as well. I think there are countless ways that we can find diversity — whether it’s the missing voices of the teachers, educators, researchers, and scholars that we know in ed tech and even the students. So, this may be people from different socioeconomic status, women, people of color, and more who don’t get amplified.

I think this community is really reflective and contributing and caring. And I hope that they continue to recommend podcasts for the #FemEdTech network to listen to. this might be an episode or maybe an event, or one that they were featured, on as a guest who was interviewed. Another way could be to suggest ones to start and amplify your talks and presentations and panels in different ways.

Maybe you record it — maybe capture the audio. Maybe you find someone else to video or screen capture, while you present at an event for other women who cannot make it beyond the network. I think about the ways that we could spread and share our voices and I would like to see more women and those who identify as women and non-binary to be shared in the ed tech movement.

I think the #FemEdTech network is just the place where we could lift up those voices and raise our mic to hear what they have to say.

Laura Pasquini is a seasoned learning designer, researcher, instructor, and trainer. As an early career scholar-practitioner, her teaching and research explores mentoring experiences, networked practices, online communities, student support/advising, professional identity development, open educational resources/practices, and online learning. She consults with various education institutions, non-profits, and corporate associations on the stewardship of technology for designing networked learning, leveraging digital training/learning programs, improving organizational culture, and enhancing collective projects. Learn more about her work and connect with her at: https://techknowtools.com/about