The readings presented a view into potential futures that I see as both inspiring and quasi-dystopian. Stories like Scenario 1 (Macgilchrist et al., 2020) present a future where educational data offers powerful methods for streamlining education. In Iona’s story (Maughan, 2014) we’re shown a small glimpse into how this data could reduce teacher tasks by linking virtual tutors to learning outcomes that tie into other course requirements. This leads me toward a future where data-centric education is used as a means of reducing inequalities in higher education (HE) (Macgilchrist, 2018); but if it only brings out inequalities defined by data, who will be left behind? As HE focuses on performance metrics for students, courses, and programs (Williamson, 2019), it can use this data to automate teacher tasks which could be as simple as assessing and addressing student engagement but also to create personalized student learning pathways, assessments, and feedback, making the need for data dashboards secondary due to the AI making those choices automatically. In theory, this could lead to HE institutions increasing enrolment and class sizes due to the reduction in the teacher’s workload, placing teachers literally in the role of the “guide on the side,” a human assistant for when the virtual assistant has failed. Teachers — or subject matter experts — will continue to shape the curriculum and pedagogy, but the day-to-day “teaching” will be highly personalized for each student by AI through the gathering, analysis, and application of data. These advancements will work to help close the achievement gap and build greater social equality (Macgilchrist, 2018), but what risks are run by automating equality?
References
Macgilchrist, F. (2018). Cruel optimism in edtech: When the digital data practices of educational technology providers inadvertently hinder educational equity. Learning, Media and Technology, 44(4), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2018.1556217
Macgilchrist, F., Allert, H., & Bruch, A. (2020). Students and society in the 2020s. Three future ‘histories’ of education and technology. Learning, Media and Technology, 45(1), 76–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2019.1656235
Maughan, T. (2014, June 22). The future of ed tech is here, it’s just not evenly distributed. Futures Exchange. https://medium.com/futures-exchange/the-future-of-ed-tech-is-here-its-just-not-evenly-distributed-210778a423d7
Selwyn, N., Pangrazio, L., Nemorin, S., & Perrotta, C. (2020). What might the school of 2030 be like? An exercise in social science fiction. Learning, Media and Technology, 45(1), 90–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2020.1694944
Williamson, B. (2019). Policy networks, performance metrics and platform markets: Charting the expanding data infrastructure of higher education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50(6), 2794–2809. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12849
Why are you leaving us hanging, David?! This was a good teaser, and I look forward to reading the rest.
There was area that seemed unclear to me though, and this may be the result of word choice in the last sentence. It sounds like you are assuming that you these advancements will necessarily close the achievement gap and contribute to equity, but that there may be other risks. Are you hoping to focus on these other risks or will you also be exploring the idea that these advancements may not actually lead to expanding achievement and diminishing social equity?
Thanks, George! My feeling (which will require research) is that as long as we rely on data to close the achievement gap or diminish social inequity we will only care about the things we can see through data. My plan is to explore both sides: the reduced achievement gap and greater social equity, but also the potential risks of missing (or creating) other inequities if we rely so heavily on data for this change. Do you think this might be a bit much to cover in 1,000 – 1,200 words? If I were to reduce this to one focus, it would be the potential for a data-based automation to reduce social inequity and reduce the achievement gap because that’s a lot less depressing than the issues it may create.
Though it would be challenging, it’s likely doable, but if you’d prefer to focus on one area, that would also be absolutely ok.