Digitalization, Big Data and Fantasies

One may be surprised what digitalization and Big Data are being used for in education. Through digital technologies, Big Data is being gathered to provide access for politicians and the public to school matters in general and specifically if schools and teachers do not reach determined goals. For example, attainment of socioeconomic reference indicators, measured by students’ grade point average. Many fantasies are attached to digitalization and Big Data. Fantasies about increased transparency, safety, and prediction (Zuboff, 2019). However, digitalization and Big Data may also produce a culture of ‘shaming and blaming’, displaying those schools that do not live up to fixed goals. This in turn may lead to goal-fixation, nearsightedness, and ‘prophylactic’ reasoning in schools. In this paper we analyze the fantasies and powerful beliefs that make it difficult to problematize and critically reflect on the emergence of digitalization and Big Data. Inspired by psychoanalytical theory (Zizek, 2008), political and organizational theory (Ball, 2008; Agamben, 2013; Weick et al. 2005; Gioia & Chittipeddi, 1991), and anthropological studies of the performance of magic in ‘primitive’ and ‘modern’ organizations (Malinowski, 1948; Clark and Salaman, 1996), we will discuss examples of fantasies from previous and ongoing research (Rüsselbæk Hansen & INFORMATION PROGRAM TITLES AUTHORS PRESENTERS CATEGORIES 02/03/2020 07.41 Program Side 2 af 3 https://app.oxfordabstracts.com/events/1222/secure/program-app/submission/152322 Phelan, 2019); Bøje et al., 2018; Balslev & Raae 2019). We argue that delicate balances between monitoring and democracy are tipping. Furthermore, we argue that digitalization and Big Data support and are being supported by a neoliberal fantasy where measurement, clarity, comparison, and competition set the educational scene (Brown, 2015). That way a certain regime is produced which seems to regulate schools, teachers and students in ways that risk dismantling democratic engagement and conversation. This scenario will be illustrated as well as discussed: how can this be avoided so democracy does not turn into another lost ideal in education? References Agamben, G. (2013). For a theory of destituent power. http://www.chronosmag. eu/index.php/g-agamben-for-a-theory-of-destituentpower.html(located November 1, 2019). Gioia, D.A. , & Chittipeddi, K. (1991). Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation. Strategic management journal, 12(6), 433-448. Balslev, G.M. , & Raae, P.H. (2019). REFORMulering Manipulation eller Metastyring? S.I. S. , 34(3), 207-228. Ball, S. (2008). The Education Debate. Bristol: The Policy Press. Brown, W. (2015). Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution. New York. Zone Books. Bøje, J.D. , Hjort, K. , Raae, P.H. og Ribers, B. (2018). En god (nok) leder. Professionalisering af skoleledelse. København: Werkstatt. Clark, T. and Salaman, G. (1996). The Management Guru as Organizational Witchdoctor. Organization, 3(1): 85-107. Malinowski, B. (1948). Magic, Science, and Religion and Other Essays. Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press. Rüsselbæk Hansen, D. & Phelan, A. M. (2019). Taste for democracy: A critique of the mechanical paradigm in education. Research in Education, 103(1) 34–48. Zizek, S. (2008). The Plague of Fantasies. London/New York: Verso. 02/03/2020 07.41 Program Side 3 af 3 https://app.oxfordabstracts. com/events/1222/secure/program-app/submission/152322 Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for the Future at the New Frontier of Power. London: Profile Books. Weick, K. E. , Sutcliffe, K. M. , & Obstfeld, D. (2005). Organizing and the process of sensemaking. Organization science, 16(4), 409-421. S E S S I O N D E TA I L S Session IV NW21a Pub 309 14:00 15:30 Thursday, 5th March, 2020 I N T H I S S E S S I O N Digitalization, Big Data and fantasies in education What Counts as Social Values in Relation to Digital Competence? A Policy perspective School data markets under formation: How platform infrastructure policies regulate public education and teachers’ work Learning outcomes changing education policy and education practice