Louis Derrac

Éducation et culture numérique

  • Predictive Futures: The Normalisation of Monitoring and Surveillance in Education | by Tactical Tech | Sep, 2020 | Medium
    https://medium.com/@Info_Activism/predictive-futures-the-normalisation-of-monitoring-and-surveillance-in-educa

    Notes :

    The grading fiasco in the UK and the facial recognition protests in the US show how predictive technologies can exacerbate bias. As with most predictive algorithms, the systems are based on largely historical training data, which can be limited, incorrect or unfair. In the former case, high-achieving students in previously low-achieving schools were reliant on the reputation of the school and the performance of students from three years prior, with their individual achievements becoming a footnote in their future.

    A report from the UK-based organisation Big Brother Watch notes that ‘Children in schools and young adults at universities are subject to state and commercial surveillance perhaps more than any other community in England.’ This data can range from basic personally identifying information like name, date of birth and gender, to browsing history, search terms, location data, contact lists, and behavioral information

    The masses of data that are collected on children and young people are later fed back to them in the form of predictive technologies, along the lines of the grading algorithm but over much longer periods of time, and without public knowledge

    Data collection and monitoring is now a basic requirement of schools in many countries, often under the guise of modernising and cutting costs, which has led to a burgeoning ‘ed tech’ industry, the term for the use of digital technologies in education

    The coronavirus pandemic has compounded the problem of monitoring and surveillance in schools and created a significant boost in the ed tech market. Since March 2020, Google Classroom has doubled in active users, and its video conferencing tool, used by many schools, has increased by 900%.

    The fact that we are beginning to see students standing up for their digital rights and against these technologies because of inherent bias may demonstrate a shift towards more participatory and transparent learning environments. It demonstrates that, as these experimental technologies become more widely used in the educational context, students may begin to react more strongly against the inequities they introduce. By protesting against and overturning the use of technology, the students bridge the gap between the use of the technology and its social and political impact, claiming the territory between as their own.