A Framework for Learning About Big Data with Mobile Technologies for Democratic Participation: Possibilities, Limitations, and Unanticipated Obstacles

• Published in: Technology, knowledge and learning Vol. 18; no. 3; pp. 103 - 120
• Main Authors: Philip, Thomas M., Schuler-Brown, Sarah, Way, Winmar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.10.2013; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Barriers; Big Data; Citizen Participation; Civil liberties; Classrooms; Competition; Computer Literacy; Corporations; Creativity and Arts Education; Curricula; Data; Education; Educational Innovation; Educational Technology; Experimental Curriculum; Global Approach; Handheld Devices; Ideology; Information literacy; Learner Engagement; Learning; Learning and Instruction; Literacy; Mathematics Education; Participation; Portable computers; Science Education; Social Change; Student Empowerment; Students; Teacher Educators; Teaching Methods; Los Angeles California; United States > US; Learning; Big Data; Mobile technology; Democratic participation; Ideology
• ISSN: 2211-1662; 2211-1670
• DOI: 10.1007/s10758-013-9202-4

As Big Data becomes increasingly important in policy-making, research, marketing, and commercial applications, we argue that literacy in this domain is critical for engaged democratic participation and that peer-generated data from mobile technologies offer rich possibilities for students to learn about this new genre of data. Through the lens of what we term the paradigms of technology and cutting-edge content as an educational end, means, and equalizer, we explore how learning about Big Data with mobile technologies exists at the critical intersection of issues such as the purpose of schooling, global competitiveness, corporate profit, student agency, and democratic participation. These competing interests surface tensions at the classroom, institutional, and societal levels. Engaging these tensions, we offer a framework of student objectives for learning about Big Data with mobile technologies. Through a reflection on the challenges we continue to encounter as we attempt to implement innovative curriculum within the constraints of urban public schools, we hope to prompt dialogue and changes in practice with respect to what it means to learn for democratic participation using Big Data.