The DATAFIED project we will be represented with several contributions at the #ECER2021 (European Conference on Educational Research ) between the 6th and the 10th of september. We are looking forward to active exchange and exciting discussions! September 06 2021 Seeing through Data: The normalizing Politics of Datafication and its Impact on Teacher and Student Subjectivities​Sigrid Hartong, Annina Förschler, Vito Dabisch, Jamie Manolev, Alice Bradbury, Sieglinde Jornitz & Anna Sullivan​Session: 23 SES 10 A | 09:00-10:30 | Room: n/a | Chair: Sigrid Hartong​ Learning Platform on the Rise – Itslearning’s Corporate Expansion Strategy and its Ambivalent Effects on Schooling in GermanyVito Dabisch, Annina Förschler & Sigrid Hartong​Session: 23 SES 01 A | 09:00-10:30 | Room: n/a | Chair: Sigrid Hartong September 07 2021 Enacting Accountability in Education and Its Effects on the Teacher Profession 2​ Guri Skedsmo, Silje Kristin Gloppen, N N, Sigrid Hartong & James Spillane​Session: 23 SES 08 B | 16:00-17:30 | Room: n/a | Chair: Guri Skedsmo​ Manifestations of Rising Datafication in German School Supervision and Consultancy: ​Ambivalent Transformations of a Low-Accountability …

There was much to do before the DATAFIED-Team could take off into summer break. The production of the joint book is proceeding well, so that we were able to discuss the first chapters in detail at our collaborative meeting. We are already looking forward to discuss exciting insights and critical question from others interested in data and datafication!

Data dashboards do not only visualise facts, they also produce compelling narratives. In a new paper, the two DATAFIED-researchers Felicitas Macgilchrist (SP3) and Juliane Jarke (SP2) trace the stories told by dashboards of AI-powered learning analytics and discuss the implications for educational futures and edtech. With narrative we do not only mean fiction. Narrative refers to a mode of presentation in which a sequence of actions or events unfold over time, involving one or more characters, often involving change. We analysed one of the leading learning management systems which offers adaptive learning tools and predictive analytics for premium clients. The system integrates far more real-time data than early warning systems in education have ever done. We identified 3 stories: In the first, teachers are managers who oversee, design interventions, check the effects of their interventions, improve efficiency and effectiveness. The multiple further roles of teachers are rendered invisible and thus irrelevant to this particular understanding of education. The second story is about risk. In the materials, we see red colours flagging a student in trouble. …

On May 20 and 21, 2021, the international conference “Nordic Science and Technology Studies Conference” (NOSTS) was held at Copenhagen Business School in a virtual format. Despite the virtual format, the organizers managed to create a warm, friendly atmosphere at the conference and plenty of space for exchange and discussion. The DATAFIED project and ifib were represented at the conference by a presentation of Dr. Juliane Jarke and Irina Zakharova entitled “Educational technologies as matters of care”. We discussed the roles of educational technologies in schools from the perspective of feminist ethics of care. Our focus was on understanding what role educational technologies and data have in practices of caregiving in schools. By caregiving, building on the approaches of Joan Tronto (1993, 2013, 2016) and Maria Puig de la Bellacasa (2011, 2017), we mean practices and activities that are oriented toward shaping and sustaining the world so that it is as good for life as possible. Using our research from the DATAFIED project, technologies and data can take on the role of addressees of caregiving …

On April 23, the DATAFIED project team met with Jo Bates and Itzelle Medina Perea from the University of Sheffield to discuss Data Journeys together. During the workshop, we exchanged ideas on how Data Journeys can be used as a concept and tool in research on datafication. Possibilities for the creation, as well as the presentation of Data Journeys were discussed. However, the use for further analysis was also thematically addressed. Based on the presentation of the previous work of Jo Bates and Itzelle Perea in the areas of climate and health as well as the first interim results of the DATAFIED project in the area of education, it was discussed, for example, how a good starting point for a data journey can be found. We are happy about the lively exchange and plan to use Data Journeys both for the analysis of the data flows investigated in DATAFIED and for the visualization of results. Literature: Bates, J., Goodale, P., Lin, Y., & Andrews, P. (2019). Assembling an infrastructure for historic climate data recovery: Data …

Two subprojects of the DATAFIED team presented insights at the international three-country conference DACH21, which took place from April 7th to April 9th 2021 on the topic „#Kommunikation #(R)Evolution. Zum Wandel der Kommunikation in der digitalen Gesellschaft“ (#Communication #(R)Evolution. On the Transformation of communication in digital society) held at the University of Zurich. In the methods panel, Jasmin Troeger, Annekatrin Bock and Felicitas Macgilchrist (SP3) presented the walkthrough method with the paper „Der walkthrough – ein methodischer Zugang für kommunikationswissenschaftliche App (User) Studies“ (The walkthrough – a methodological approach for communication science app (user) studies). Following this, Irina Zakharova (SP2) and Annekatrin Bock spoke on the topic of “Researching (in)visible data”. In the method paper, Troeger, Bock, and Macgilchrist used browser-based learning software to illustrate how the walkthrough approach can be used to capture individual aspects of software such as core functions, individual system components, and interaction scenarios, thus enabling the analysis of their interrelationships and the formulation of insights into the data model and software architecture. Finally, possible implications for questions in communication science …

For the multi-year research project DATAFIED, another important milestone was reached: The ifib subproject, which deals with the changes in school administration through datafication and focuses specifically on school administration systems, was able to conduct the last scheduled qualitative interviews in April. During the long and extensive survey phase, numerous interviews could be conducted with various stakeholders in schools and public authorities in several federal states. Despite the corona-related break last year, the remaining interviews could be conducted as digital video interviews without major problems. This even had the advantage of being able to respond more flexibly to interview partners, since there was no need to travel to and from the interviews, so that even short-term appointments could be made. Now, after the interviews have been anonymized and processed, they must be analyzed and the findings published. This will probably take place in a large project publication, but also in further conference contributions and specialist publications.

From March 23-25, 2021, the international conference “New Materialist Informatics” took place virtually at the University of Kassel. Despite the virtual format, the organizers created different spaces for formal and informal exchange for the participants. For example, in addition to the usual video conference rooms, an entire digital venue with a reception, several conference rooms, a library and many other spaces was created via the gather.town platform. This allowed all participants to enjoy spontaneous exchanges and have productive discussions with each other across great distances and different continents. From SP2 of the DATAFIED project, Dr. Juliane Jarke and Irina Zakharova participated in the conference. Their contribution, entitled “Educational technologies as matters of care”, highlighted the role of educational technologies in schools from the perspective of feminist ethics of care. Such ethics already have a longer tradition in educational research. However, educational technologies, data, and other non-human actors are rarely problematized. The contribution of Irina Zakharova and Dr. Juliane Jarke was intended to fill this gap. The discussion following the presentation showed that non-human actors should …

What does it take to make data literacy more widespread among teachers? This question was addressed by the DATAFIED team in its workshop “Shifting data practices – Building data literacy” at the conference “Building Data Literacy with the Teaching Profession at Global Scale”. The conference was organized by Sam Sellar (Manchester Metropolitan University) and Sigrid Hartong (Helmut-Schmidt University Hamburg). With the guests, we discussed initial findings on the decline of pedagogical instruction and the advance of data-driven instructional design. We explored the question to what extent teachers need support in selecting software for their lessons and what role data literacy building can play for this. The presentation slides of the workshop can be accessed here.

Next week from 09-10.03.2021 the virtual BMBF Educational Research Conference 2021 will take place under the motto “Educational Worlds of the Future”. The DATAFIED project will be there.In Forum 3.1. “Challenges and Perspectives of Teacher Education in a Digitally Shaped World”, there will be an exchange about aspirations and reality in all three phases of teacher education regarding the professionalization of teachers in a digitally shaped world. Exemplary formats for cooperation between teacher education and research will be presented and discussed. Our contribution by Felicitas Macgilchrist on “Datafication and (Critical) Data Literacy” can be found here: The project is also represented in the virtual marketplace. Feel free to drop by – we look forward to seeing you! Tue, 03/09 11:45-13:15am and 16:30-17:30pm.Wed, 10.03. 12:15-12:45h and 15:00-14:30h Further information can be found here:Datafied Poster (german)