Lundie, D. (2017) The givenness of the human learning experience and its incompatibility with information analytics. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 49(4), pp. 391-404. (doi: 10.1080/00131857.2015.1052357)
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Abstract
The rise of learning analytics, the application of complex metrics developed to exploit the proliferation of ‘Big Data’ in educational work, raises important moral questions about the nature of what is measurable in education. Teachers, schools and nations are increasingly held to account based on metrics, exacerbating the tendency for fine-grained measurement of learning experiences. In this article, the origins of learning analytics ontology are explored, drawing upon core ideas in the philosophy of computing, such as the general definition of information and the information-theoretic account of knowledge. Drawing upon a reading of Descartes Meditatio II, which extends the phenomenology of Jean-Luc Marion into a pedagogy of intentionality, the article identifies a fundamental incompatibility between the subjective experience of learning and the information-theoretic account of knowledge. Human subjects experience and value their own information incommensurably with the ways in which computers measure and quantify information. The consequences of this finding for the design of online learning environments, and the necessary limitations of learning analytics and measurement are explored.
Item Type: | Articles |
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Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Lundie, Dr David |
Authors: | Lundie, D. |
Subjects: | L Education > LB Theory and practice of education |
College/School: | College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability |
Journal Name: | Educational Philosophy and Theory |
Publisher: | Taylor and Francis |
ISSN: | 0013-1857 |
ISSN (Online): | 1469-5812 |
Published Online: | 23 June 2015 |
Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2015 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia |
First Published: | First published in Educational Philosophy and Theory 49(4):391-404 |
Publisher Policy: | Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy |
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