Call for papers SPECIAL ISSUE: Data ecosystems in education: opportunities and challenges

27-11-2022

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Editors of the Special Issue: 

Linda Castañeda lindacq@um.es & Lesley Gourlay l.gourlay@ucl.ac.uk  

Keywords: Educational datafication, Data Literacy, Platformisation, Privacy, Surveillance, Educators' Competences

Publication date of the issue: December 2023

 

Introduction:

The integration of ecosystems that promote the massive use of data and the large-scale processing of this data into educational processes represent an unprecedented social challenge. This change, which we could consider paradigmatic, has been promoted by various factors which mutually magnify each other's effects. 

In recent years the massive collection and storage of data has intensified through ubiquitous technologies, which co-exist with human actors. In addition, we have witnessed an increase in the intentional processing power of this data at a speed unimaginable a few years ago (through the application of Artificial Intelligence, hereafter AI) . This has turned many aspects of our lives into data, from which value is extracted by third parties through processes of datafication. Concurrently, the public at large - including the educational sector - has been promised educational 'personalisation', a concept derived directly from other industrial production scenarios where AI is already in use, and every experience is datafied. In addition, a rapidly growing economic sector - the EdTech industry - has emerged with a capacity to monetise the educational sphere at a global level, extracting not only profits from its present and future actions with private or institutional clients, but also generating income based on capturing the motivation of their users and achieving significant levels of social and political influence. All of the above is magnified by the proliferation of the use of online platforms and tools in educational spaces (such as learning analytics and online exam proctoring), accelerated by the demand for online education resulting from 'lockdowns' during the CoVid-19 pandemic. 

Faced with such a multifactorial reality, when we talk about the challenge of integrating the use of data in education, we are not talking about a specific challenge, but about a complex series of issues (ethics, privacy, discrimination, redefinition of education, among many others) that arise beyond the promised 'personalisation based on Artificial Intelligence'. These are various issues that shape the educational landscape and promote certain conceptions of what technology is, what education is, what the educational system should be and, of course, what the roles of individuals, groups and institutions are in the process.  

This special issue aims to bring together articles that problematise the challenges and unintended effects that new mechanisms and dynamics fuelled by these data-driven technologies have introduced into education. This call aims to encourage researchers and practitioners to share studies, research, debates and academically well-founded reflections that propose critical visions. This aims to provide those who are interested in education (either as teachers, academic faculty, researchers  or managers ) deeper analyses, to allow us to understand the current educational and technological landscape, and to foster a revaluation of relevant educational issues that should be part of our work in the coming years.    

Topics or lines of interest:

  • Educational datafication
  • Data literacy for citizenship
  • Data literacy for teachers, faculty and educators
  • Platformisation of education at all levels 
  • Privacy
  • Control and surveillance
  • Ethical aspects of data
  • Inter- and transnational perspectives on some of these issues

Important deadlines: 

  • Abstracts Submission deadline: 31st of January, 2023
  • Notification to authors of abstract acceptance: 15th of February, 2023
  • Submission deadline: 30th of May, 2023
  • Reviews completed & authors notified: 30th of July, 2023
  • Submission of revised manuscript: 15th of September, 2023
  • Publication of the special issue: December, 2023

 

Profile of the editors: 

Linda Castañeda  is an Associate Professor of Educational Technology in the Department of Didactics and School Organisation at the University of Murcia. Member of the Educational Technology Research Group . https://www.lindacastaneda.com/en  ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1055-9241 

Lesley Gourlay is a Professor of Education in the department of Culture, Communication and Media, Institute of Education, University College London. She is a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellow, researching 'The Datafied University: Documentation and Performativity in Digitised Education'.  https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=LJGOU86 ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4274-1934 

 

GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS AND SUBMISSION OF CONTRIBUTIONS

We welcome original contributions, written in English or Spanish, including: 

  • Research project reports, 5000-6500 words.
  • Critical discussions of associated literature and theory 
  • Innovative education interventions  critically reviewed and capable of being transfered to other contexts , 5000-6500 words.

 

Abstracts- Outlines of proposed papers (500 – 750 words) due to the Journal revista@edutec.es  before the 10th of January 2023.

Manuscripts must be sent through the journal management system selecting the special issue [Data ecosystems in education ] : http://www.edutec.es/revista/

Publication rules: manuscripts must be submitted following the regular structure of the EDUTEC-E journal available at: http://www.edutec.es/revista/

Editorial process: Submitted manuscripts will be under revision following established criteria for published manuscripts (editorial board and blind review). Once the Editorial Board has completed all admission procedures, authors will receive anonymous evaluation reports. More information about the review process and its communication is available at: http://www.edutec.es/revista/

Quality Index: EDUTEC journal is indexed in the main databases, directories and evaluation systems of specialized journals. More information about indexations is available at:  https://edutec.es/revista/index.php/edutec-e/indexacion