Lindsay Weinberg, "Smart University: Student Surveillance in the Digital Age" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2024)
Dec 21, 2024
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Lindsay Weinberg, a Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of the Tech Justice Lab at Purdue University, explores the implications of technology on student autonomy in higher education. She discusses how digital surveillance can exacerbate inequalities and raise ethical concerns regarding student privacy. The conversation delves into predictive analytics, the erosion of individual agency, and the corporate influence over curricula. Weinberg also emphasizes the need for a democratic approach to technology integration that prioritizes both equity and academic freedom.
Lindsay Weinberg highlights the ethical concerns surrounding the use of predictive analytics in universities, which often perpetuate racial and socioeconomic biases in student recruitment.
The podcast discusses the tension between digital surveillance methods in smart universities and the detrimental impact on student privacy and faculty autonomy, raising questions about data consent and ethical use.
Deep dives
The Concept of a Smart University
A smart university integrates digital technologies into college campuses, utilizing tools such as predictive analytics, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence. These implementations aim to enhance educational accessibility, streamline operations, and theoretically improve the overall learning experience for students. However, the reliance on data for governance raises concerns about biases and the reduction of human decision-making in educational leadership, as it often reflects the interests of administrators and private vendors rather than a broader academic perspective. Ultimately, the term 'smart university' represents a complex interplay between technology and educational ideologies, questioning who benefits from these advancements in the academic landscape.
Data-Driven Recruitment Strategies
Administrators at smart universities increasingly use predictive analytics to target prospective students based on historical data, including demographic and behavioral factors. These data points help institutions determine which students to engage for recruitment and retention, often relying on metrics that may reinforce existing biases related to race or socioeconomic status. For instance, some universities purchase data from standardized tests to identify potential students, which raises ethical concerns regarding data privacy and the perpetuation of inequality. The approach to recruitment exemplifies a trend towards viewing students as data points, rather than individuals with unique backgrounds and needs.
The Role of Predictive Analytics in Student Support
Universities employ predictive analytics not just for recruitment, but also for monitoring student engagement and success during their academic journey. These tools track various metrics, such as class attendance and library visits, to label students as at-risk and prompt interventions. While the intention is to provide customized support, critics argue that such systems misinterpret the reasons behind student struggles, overlooking the broader systemic issues that influence academic performance. This reliance on data-driven models often leads to a focus on the individual student's responsibility for success, rather than addressing institutional failures that contribute to these challenges.
Concerns About Surveillance and Privacy
The use of digital tools in smart universities raises significant concerns regarding student privacy and surveillance. Students often have little choice but to consent to extensive data collection in order to access essential resources, which can lead to ethical dilemmas over how this data is used. Moreover, faculty performance monitoring and faculty management software can contribute to an environment of surveillance, where educators' outputs are closely monitored, impacting academic freedom and professional autonomy. As privacy policies often lack transparency, fostering a culture of trust and respect around student data becomes increasingly challenging.
In Smart University: Student Surveillance in the Digital Age(Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024), Lindsay Weinberg evaluates how this latest era of tech solutions and systems in our schools impacts students' abilities to access opportunities and exercise autonomy on their campuses. Using historical and textual analysis of administrative discourses, university policies, conference proceedings, grant solicitations, news reports, tech industry marketing materials, and product demonstrations, Weinberg argues that these more recent transformations are best understood as part of a longer history of universities supporting the development of technologies that reproduce racial and economic injustice on their campuses and in their communities.
Mentioned in this episode is this piece that Dr. Weinberg wrote in Inside Higher Ed:
Lindsay Weinberg is a clinical assistant professor and the Director of the Tech Justice Lab in the John Martinson Honors College at Purdue University.
Dr. Michael LaMagna is the Information Literacy Program & Library Services Coordinator and Professor of Library Services at Delaware County Community College.