Thursday 4 April 2013

The digital manager uses data as a tool of control


The political economy of technology and education
Why is so much of current discussions of education "reform" centred on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and data-based decision-making?

What are the links in the education politics of ICT between corporate interests and the promotion of digital technology and "21st century skills" as key elements of the education future?
Joel Spring provides a valuable framework for analysis of these questions in his book, Education Networks:  power, wealth, cyberspace and the digital mind.

An obvious link for the corporations is profits.  If that were all there is to it, developing a counter strategy that turned ICT in education into a non-profit, social return project would be relatively simple.  Spring, however, provides a look into deeper social and technological issues that make the project much more complex than just about profits.  He provides a framework for analysis. 
Data and the digital manager

One of the most common refrains about ICT and education is a focus on data-based decision-making.  How many times have we heard "if you can't count it, you can't manage it."  The developers of centralized, standardized data systems promote this as an essential tool for improving education through massive data, analytics and a dashboard that will give administrators the information they need to direct education.
Spring contends that what we are seeing is an application to education of the tools of management of global corporations.  Data and spreadsheet software to help make sense of the data is key to identifying sources of gains or impediments to production and profits.  Managers monitor their employees using digital data. 

The assumptions of digital management are brought into education.  Areas where data can be produced become the most significant areas of attention.  Standardized tests become central to digital management.
If the data shows a decline in achievement, then the school and the teacher become the focus.  The data system gives the tools for intervening from outside the school.  The target to be managed is the school and the teacher.

A key factor is missing in this, of course.  The life of the child is more than the school and many other factors affect the child.  The data systems are not holistic and can seriously mislead, particularly if you want  to look at the development of the full life of the child and not primarily his/her development as a worker in the economy.
The data manager is constantly after more data: "the student becomes the data and the school becomes the data source." (14)  Further, "the digital mind of ICT managers tends to see schools as institutions compose do data while not seeing the holistic context of students' lives such as their families, neighbourhoods, and income levels. (24)

In Alfie Kohn's description, they miss the "quality beyond measure."  Diane Ravich in a blog posting quoted management consultant W. Edwards Deming countering the data is essential to manage message:  "The most important figures needed for management of any organization are unknown and unknowable."
An ideology of "technology as the answer" spread through networks of power

Digital management of schools to produce workers to be competitive in a global economy is appearing in the rhetoric of education reform in most countries, almost regardless of level of economic development.
Spring describes this apparent global consensus  among those with power and influence as technology is "the panacea for world problems and the solution for classroom instruction."  (25)

The World Economic Forum (Davos) that holds an annual gabfest of the global economic and government elite set the tone.  It also has a subgroup, the Global Education Initiative and other regional conferences that expand and amplify the dominance of this idea.
Other promoters of ICT and its role hold conferences as where ICT in education for global competition is promoted:  the OECD, the World Bank and regional organizations such as APEC, with its own Education Forum and the Inter-American Development Bank.  A few key corporations also play a supporting role in these influence-peddling activities.

None of these are bodies that directly make decisions about education, but they are crucial processes to building networks among those who do make the decisions.  They do have the power and influence, though, to identify "which ideas and people are 'sound'" for national education policies. (23)
Challenging the promoters of ICT in education

Spring's examples of the operation of networks of power promoting a particular version of ICT in education are drawn from New York, where he works.  To understand the global nature of the push for IT in education, it would be useful to use his framework to look at the education policies in other countries.  This could start with a description of national education policies and the place of ICT and data being used to manage and control teachers and programs. 
To develop a strategy that puts democratic citizenship at the centre rather than the global economy at the centre, it is important to identify the networks of power, with their links to transnational organizations.  To challenge these networks of power requires alternative networks of those who believe it is important that education, with or without ICT, be developed from a social, democratic and holistic basis.

Reference:
Spring, Joel.  (2012).  Education Networks:  Power, Wealth, Cyberspace and the Digital Mind. (Routlege:  New York)

Tuesday 2 April 2013

The brain--by Pearson


These items are a preview of my Roundup column that will appear in the next issue of Our Schools, Our Selves, the education journal of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
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The brain--by Pearson
Brain research holds out the hope that it will have implications for identifying effective teaching practices.  But beware.
An article in the Times Education Supplement suggests a filter to use:  "When the entrepreneur begins to talk about the brain and how easily students can learn using their newfangled technique and doesn't show evidence in terms of improved student achievement, that individual should be shown the door."
One program, Cogmed, founded by a Swedish neuroscience professor, claims to improve working memory and claims backing from published studies.  A group of psychologists, however, examined the research and said "The only unequivocal statement made is that Cogmed will improve performance on tasks that resemble Cogmed training."
Cogmed has been purchased from the professor by Pearson as part of its rapidly expanding stable of education products.
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Correct the empathy deficit
Reading posts on social media can be toxic.  An Australian group has developed an approach to changing the online environment by calling on people to THINK before they post on social media. 
THINK stands for:  is it True; is it Helpful; is it Inspiring; is it Necessary; is it Kind. 
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Teaching in a fishbowl
That is how the Manitoba Teachers' Society has described the public expectations of teachers.  MTS staff writing in their newsletter say that using Facebook or other social media "expand their fishbowl exponentially."
They report that a teacher faced discipline for posting a video of students working in their science lab without the knowledge of the students that they were being videoed, nor did they have parent permission to post the video.  The teacher received a letter with a very prescriptive process for future online activity and posting.
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Social media inoculation against corporate GERM (Global Education Reform Movement)
An organization to counter the corporate takeover of public education plans to challenge the GERM-supporting organizations in vying for school board seats.  Diane Ravich has launched a Network for Public Education to support candidates against high-stakes testing and the privatizing of public schools.
Ravich said the Network "will give voice to the millions of parents, educators, and other citizens who are fed up with corporate-style reform."  She notes that "wealthy individuals are pouring unprecedented amounts of money into state and local school board races, often into places where they do not reside, to elect candidates intent on undermining and privatizing our public schools."
The Network doesn't have deep pockets, but will put a "seal of approval" on candidates and ask others to donate to them.  They intend to use the power of social media to create a national movement.
The network calls for broad-minded public school curriculums that include arts, sciences, foreign languages and physical education; better financing for schools; more respect for teachers; and the "appropriate use of testing to help students and teachers, not to punish or reward students, teachers, principals, or to close schools," Ravich said.