Surveillance and Datafication in Higher Education: Documentation of the Human

• Published in: Postdigital science and education Vol. 6; no. 4; pp. 1039 - 1048
• Main Author: Gourlay, Lesley
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.12.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Active Learning; Algorithms; Cognitive Psychology; Commentaries; Digital technology; Documentation; Documents; Education; Educational Environment; Educational Facilities Improvement; Educational Philosophy; Educational research; Educational Technology; Higher education; Human agency; Human subjects; Independent Study; Influence of Technology; Information Processing; Intellectual Disciplines; Learning analytics; Learning management systems; Library and information science; Science; Surveillance; Technology and Digital Education; United Kingdom > UK; Sociotechnical imaginaries; Publication metrics; Learning analytics; Algorithms; Surveillance; Datafication
• ISSN: 2524-485X; 2524-4868
• DOI: 10.1007/s42438-022-00352-x

‘Learning analytics’ is one such tendency; a growing approach to the monitoring of student activity online, typically as part of a learning management system, which, while justified in terms of ‘student support’ and the promotion of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, may in fact be regarded as primarily driven by the logics of national audit systems imposed on higher education. [...]all dimensions of academic practice are increasingly made subject to performative regimes of surveillance, as can be seen in the UK-based Research Excellence Framework and Teaching Excellence Framework.1 The marketised model of higher education arguably demands this level of surveillance, in order to record, document and make visible aspects of study, practices and subject positions, which in the past were not amenable to observation and audit. Learning analytics is described as follows in the executive summary of a review document produced by the UK government agency the Joint Information Services Committee (JISC): Every time a student interacts with their university - be that going to the library, logging into their virtual learning environment or submitting assessments online – they leave behind a digital footprint. Learning analytics refers to the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about the progress of learners and he contexts in which learning takes place.