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Synopsis 2: The school of 2030 – social science fiction.

Synopsis: Neil Selwyn et al 2019b: “What might the school of 2030 be like? An exercise in social science fiction.”

1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 Social science fiction may be thought of as the evocation of the sociological imagination and, for the social scientist, writing stories may be seen as a “methodology for grasping the social”. It is a thought-experiment in social science exploring what social order might result from changing technological conditions. 

2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 This paper presents three vignettes describing the imagined student and teacher experience centre in a school ten years from now in 2030 set in Melbourne, Australia.

3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 The vignettes rest on several assumptions: 

  1. 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0
  2. 2030 is the limit of prediction (but we cannot know for sure how technology and automation will be implemented); most schools will still have technologies in use that date from the late 2010s;
  3. The institutional and organisational forms of schooling will not change dramatically over the next few decades and rest on long-standing  processes and customs.. This includes such core principles as standardisation of curriculum, the low-stakes and high-stakes measurement of outcomes and a hierarchical management structure;
  4. Schooling will become a never ending pursuit as he distinction between leisure time and school time has dissolves.  Schooling becomes flexible, nomadic, precarious, unpredictable, productivity focussed, less social and individualised. For some this might mean a freer style; for others more oppressive;
  5. Schooling will be increasingly defined by code – physical spaces and code are mutually bound. Code is a mode of power and a logic of control. ‘Digital knowing; is expressed through the ‘dashboard’ which displays what the school knows about the student. Code limits freedom of action by setting parameters for what is permissible and what is required. Schools become sensor rich; tracking and surveillance are normalised. As a result the reliance on wider infrastructure increases such as power supplies and networking components which are both vulnerable an unequally distributed;
  6. Schools will become more dependent on learning management systems which collect and interpret large amounts data about student performance, about what teachers teach, how they teach it, what students have learned, and how their LMS profile maps their past and future. While there a dependence on data this is asymmetric. Schools use data to control students, not the other way about. There is a blending of computation and psychology. Issues of ‘mental privacy’ arise as emotions and affective states become both public and treated as potential deficits;
  7. Minds and bodies can be manipulated more directly but human psychology and affect are messy and complex. Attempting to frame them with code creates a new kind of ‘digital intolerance’ because human beings are not precise or certain;
  8. Digital schooling will leave little room for spontaneous action. All actions will be directed to meeting the goals of schooling: passing exams, securing jobs, following scripts. But this is not a strait-jacket – there are moments of resistance and enlightenment.

5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 VIGNETTE 1: ‘Lakeside High School ‘

6 Leave a comment on paragraph 6 0 An 11-18 publicly funded inner city school set in a relatively affluent neighbourhood. 2000 students on roll, 30 senior exam level staff and 20 generalist staff. There has been a programme of rebuilding and refurbishment of much of the physical accommodation.

7 Leave a comment on paragraph 7 0 The school has significant IT, outsourced infrastructure provided by an official corporate provider. Teaching and learning is provided by a mix of f2f and online classes, some of which are followed in individual booths in the school learning centre and some from home. Students are required to provide their own ‘learning ready’ device for school work, either a high-end smartphone with keyboard capability or an entry-level laptop. Through its LMS (Oracle) run by a Google affiliate the school manages its record keeping, communication, curriculum tracking, production and circulation of learning and teaching resources (known as ‘scripts), annual assessments required by the State, formal examinations, work placements and employment routes.

8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 0 VIGNETTE 2: ‘Testing Times’

9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 0 Mia is a full-time Y12 senior student. Her physical presence on campus is not required and she attends infrequently but follows online courses from home whenever she can. Unexpectedly, and unusually, she receives an ‘urgent request to attend’ from the principal’s office. She has never met the principal and in 12 months has had only one meeting with her form tutor.

10 Leave a comment on paragraph 10 0 The principal tells her that following her formal online external test the system has suggested that she cheated because her test result was not consistent with her overall performance profile.Biometric data confirms that she logged in and took the test but her answers did not match her normal test-taking profile. Her result was way above what was expected based on test results from previous years. “ … we’re not sure what you’ve done here but this has to go down on your profile as a fraudulent attempt.” Mia responds  that she has been cramming with an online group in the US and was coached to try something different for the exams “… it’s not what it looks …”

11 Leave a comment on paragraph 11 0 The principal points out that the system is ‘tight’ especially with external examinations. All the key data points indicate malpractice and there’s nothing to be done. Her access to the learning platform is suspended for 60 days and then she can take a supervised retest.

12 Leave a comment on paragraph 12 0 As Mia sets off to her part time job she knew this would have a bad effect on her university applications and that her parents would be notified, which would not go well.

13 Leave a comment on paragraph 13 0 VIGNETTE 3: ‘going off script’

14 Leave a comment on paragraph 14 0 Laura is a first year teacher with an English specialism, waiting for her lesson script to download to her tablet for the next session but the network is slow and time is short. The next class is not a motivated group and she has been unable to engage them. They viewed writing instrumentally, as a way to get grades not as a way to explore or experiment with ideas and expression.The script for the lesson fails to download and the class is starting. She has to wing it but her senior leading teacher to whom she reports will not be happy that the class will have achieved anything fewer than 15 of the 30 scripted outcomes.

15 Leave a comment on paragraph 15 0 Laura reflects how quickly she had become dependent on the Oracle platform. All her performance indicators,reporting of students progress, lesson content even pedagogical strategies are based on Oracle. So what was the point in going off script, even if she had initially expected that teaching would require her to plan lessons? Oracle knew her students better than she did using a 5 band differentiation system with script variations for each, and it provides care all her planning and assessment.  As a result she had become bored with her own classes … and the students knew it!

16 Leave a comment on paragraph 16 0 But with no script to work from she grabs a copy of the set text and rushes to the classroom. She decides to set up reading circles and ignores the prescribed bandings set by Oracle so that students would work in mixed groups. At first the students were a little unsettled when asked to rearrange the furniture and form different groupings. Some regarded anxiously the cameras in front of the classroom that live stream into Oracle for any observer to look in on a lesson at any time. They also watched the glass fronted wall of the classroom where the senior teacher often stood to watch the ongoing lesson, tablet in hand.

17 Leave a comment on paragraph 17 0 The time passed quickly and suddenly the session was ending. She hadn’t done any of the usual lesson administration (ticking off scripted steps and outcomes) and the classroom was messier than usual with the sitting, lying or standing around in their reading circles chatting, often enthusiastically, about the book. They are engaged in a way that she had not seen all year – there was excitement and interest throughout the room. They appeared to be learning!

18 Leave a comment on paragraph 18 0 Without warning the senior teacher appeared at the classroom door device in hand, her screen displaying the class number in large flashing red text. Laura knew that the curriculum and assessment authority would be notified of her ‘contract breach’!

19 Leave a comment on paragraph 19 0 VIGNETTE 4: distant education

20 Leave a comment on paragraph 20 0 Adam wakes up on a school morning to his automated music playlist – the streaming service knows his preferences and adds and edits tracks automatically. Sometimes he thinks he should be offended. Truth is he isn’t too bothered … Hie brother is still dozing, but he finished school last year and has been unemployed since then.

21 Leave a comment on paragraph 21 0 Soon Adam will learn his provisional VET score, a route to a BIS degree course at university and an internship wth the school’s corporate sponsor (PwC). His hopes to be placed with an IT corporation.

22 Leave a comment on paragraph 22 0 As he enters Lakeside School (Malaysia) Personalised Learning Centre, facial recognition sensors mark him as on-site. He makes for a study booth directly – there’s no time to chat to other students. Donning his noise-cancelling headset he logs in to his personal learning profile and watches as his learning dashboard is dynamically assembled. Everything here has been determined by his employment track, designed by learning design specialists and his education advisor. Though it seems dull, the possibility of an actual job is enticing – he does not want to be unemployed like his brother.

23 Leave a comment on paragraph 23 0 The first session begins with a recorded video lesson made by senior teachers in the school although these tend to be of a lower quality than the bought-in resources. Suddenly, there is a power outage, the screen blanks ad the machine shuts down. Frustrated, Adam leaves his booth and the building as do many other students. There is nothing to be done until the power is back. That could take all day. OUtages are becoming more frequent now because more online systems are taking more power from the overloaded regional grid.

24 Leave a comment on paragraph 24 0  Adam goes home! 

25 Leave a comment on paragraph 25 0 VIGNETTE 5: ‘machines will watch us learn’

26 Leave a comment on paragraph 26 0 My data tells me that school has changed. Once there were no machines watching and keeping students in line. Now the intelligent behaviour management system scans every part of the school; all students all wear trackable tags; whatever they’re doing is logged and categorised with various judgements, differentiating good or less good actions. Good actions earn merit points, bad actions lose them. Merit points produce a character score. Older people think this is creepy but younger students regard it as normal.

27 Leave a comment on paragraph 27 0 Supposedly, it’s about character development.

28 Leave a comment on paragraph 28 0 Classrooms are under continuous surveillance for key behavioural features including inferred attitudes and emotions. Teachers will use the feedback from the system to tell students how they appear to the system and ask what they will do about negative elements.

29 Leave a comment on paragraph 29 0 Students wear biometric wristbands. These deliver mild electric shocks when the system infers a student is off-task in some way. Shocks can vary in intensity from a very mild tingle to a more pronounced when a student’s engagement declines. The system can misjudge demeanour – it might read a frown as ‘angry’ when a student is emotionally upset or distraught and display a ‘red flag’ for the teacher to address.

30 Leave a comment on paragraph 30 0 My dad was called into the school because the system red-flagged me as “angry” (that was right after my dog had died).

31 Leave a comment on paragraph 31 0 “With respect, Mrs Bradshaw,” said my dad, “machines makes mistakes.”

32 Leave a comment on paragraph 32 0 She replies, “This system is never wrong. It is tested and updated regularly … it has been proven 100% reliable.”

33 Leave a comment on paragraph 33 0 However, the attitude of school leaders is that the system is never wrong. Students do not always know what they are feeling so the judgement of the machine is uppermost. Overall improved performance is the goal and who can argue against that? However, the teachers do not know nor can they explain how the system works even if it is trusted and appears to produce results.

34 Leave a comment on paragraph 34 0 And so the cycle continues – faith in the machine versus misunderstanding student behaviour.

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Source: https://davidlongman.net/blog/2030-education-technology-to-the-future/synopsis-2-the-school-of-2030-an-exercise-in-social-science-fiction/