1. Engage Week 7: Datafication of education
EUB102 Teaching in New & Emerging Educational Contexts
Engage Week 7:
Datafication of education

2. Activity 1: Define these key words (all in the textbook)
Activity 1: Define these key words (all in the textbook). Provide examples.
Big data
Standardised testing
Statistics
Student tracking
Mass surveillance
Meta-analysis
Testing culture

3. Activity 2: The costs and benefits of the use of big data
If universities can accurately predict who is likely to fail in their first year of university, should they be able to use this information to deny entry?
Think about the amount of money the student pays for a course that they will fail.
Think about the resources the university will waste on this individual, only to have them fail.
Think about the shame of failure and the blot on their permanent record.
Then think about the individuals that actually manage to succeed, despite predictions of failure.
Think about the most common reasons behind failure in the first year of university – social class is a big one; being first in the family to go to university is another; lack of academic capital or an academic role model are also common factors. What are the wider ramifications for society of preventing these ‘likely-to-fail’ individuals from studying?

4. Activity 3: Moral panics around Naplan
A moral panic is a widespread fear, most often an irrational one, that someone or something is a threat to the values, safety, and interests of a community or society at large. Typically, a moral panic is perpetuated by news media, fueled by politicians, and often results in the passage of new laws or policies that target the source of the panic. In this way, moral panic can foster increased social control.
(Source of the above definition.)
Undertake the activity on the next slide

5. Activity 3: Moral panics around Naplan See previous slide for definition of moral panic
Have a look at these links
Scrap Naplan
NAPLAN is bad but Rob Stokes' alternative is worse
Data is used to create “moral panics” and shocks that justify further reform (Klein, Lingard). Examples?
How is quantified data linked to governance & the regulation teachers’ conduct?

6. Activity 4. International and national comparisons of student data
Look at these 3 links
Declining Naplan participation
Discuss the various implications of what you can see on these websites in terms of the collection of data, the effects of the comparison of this data and the impact on individuals

7. Activity 5: NAPLAN and the school
Suppose you teach at a low-SES, multicultural primary school.
Discuss the usefulness of the information gleaned through NAPLAN testing in your (imaginary) school.
Discuss how this testing may have changed your school, for better or for worse.
Discuss how your school might respond to the testing requirements. 
Cover the same three discussion questions, but change the school type – e.g. affluent primary school, private secondary school, large state secondary school.
Discuss how standardised testing systems in schools could be improved (or not), in terms of pedagogy, reliability, administration and ethics.

8. Activity 6: Investigating national and local comparisons of student results
Look at this website ranking Brisbane’s top secondary schools Click on some of the categories in the left hand menu as well How is quantified data like this linked to the governance and regulation of (i) Teachers’ conduct? (ii) Students' conduct? (iii) The market

9. Activity 7. Perspectives and ‘gaming’ the system
Can you think of ways teachers, parents and students might ‘game’ the system?
For definition of ‘gaming the system’ see this website. Scroll down to ‘Campbell’s Law’ in particular.

10. Activity 8: Surveillance and privacy
It is highly likely that someone, somewhere has had access to your private messages on Facebook. Would knowing this can happen make you change your social media behaviour?
Some say that it only costs a dollar to illegally access someone’s laptop camera. Are we all just transparent global citizens now? If we have nothing to hide, should we care?
In what ways might privacy be an issue, in addition to those associated with national security?

11. Activity 9: the datafication of children’s lives…TicTocTrack
Check out this new device that parents can use for tracking their child…
Consider in terms of governance and the datafication of children’s lives. This is not the only device of this kind eg mobile phone apps..
Consider privacy
Collection of data
Surveillance
Types of parenting this encourages
Types of childhoods experienced – unintended consequences