Silicon startup schools: technocracy, algorithmic imaginaries and venture philanthropy in corporate education reform

Williamson, Ben

doi:10.1080/17508487.2016.1186710

Cited by 111 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In addition to its links to the governmentalization of psychological concepts, ClassDojo materializes a particular brand of contemporary educational thought as a direct product of Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley has recently developed significant interests in education, as demonstrated by its massive escalation in venture capital funding for educational technology startup companies and support for high-tech models of alternative schools (Williamson 2016). A distinctive political outlook underpins Silicon Valley's commitment to education.…”

Section: Social-emotional Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decoding ClassDojo: psycho-policy, social-emotional learning and persuasive educational technologies

Williamson

2017

Learning, Media and Technology

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121

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ClassDojo is one of the world’s most successful educational technologies, currently used by over 3 million teachers and 35 million children globally. It reinforces and enacts emerging governmental ‘psycho-policies’ around the measurement and modification of children’s social and emotional learning in schools. This article focuses specifically on the ways ClassDojo facilitates psychological surveillance through gamification techniques, its links to new psychological concepts of ‘character development,’ ‘growth mindsets’ and ‘personal qualities,’ and its connections to the psychological techniques of Silicon Valley designers. Methodologically, the research mobilizes network analysis to trace the organizational, technical, governmental and scientific relations that are translated together and encoded in the ClassDojo app. Through its alignment with emerging education psycho-policy agendas around the measurement of non-cognitive learning, ClassDojo is a key technology of ‘fast policy’ that functions as a ‘persuasive technology’ of ‘psycho-compulsion’ to reinforce and reward student behaviours that are aligned with governmental strategies around social-emotional learning

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Section: Social-emotional Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decoding ClassDojo: psycho-policy, social-emotional learning and persuasive educational technologies

Williamson

2017

Learning, Media and Technology

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121

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“…It is this evolving public sphere, increasingly mediated by digital technologies, which is under attack from algorithm manipulation, propaganda cyber farms, and other questionable intelligence operations. The solution posed by these technological forces is to increase the reliance on technology in formerly public sector superstructures, most notably in education (Williamson, 2016). The irony here is rich; the companies responsible for the erosion are the ones promising an ever greater investment in their products is the only way to reverse the trend and stop the problem.…”

Section: Beyond the Academy: Cognitive Authority In The "Edtech" Publmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the role of the academy: cognitive authority in the age of post-truth

Farrow

Moe

2019

Teaching in Higher Education

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“…More precisely, Ed-Tech speak contains seductive and convincing propositions (i.e., statements about education and how it works), presuppositions (treating certain propositions as given), and interpersonal (how relationships between people are presented) functions (Selwyn 2015, 235). These deterministic and optimistic views of technology as a shaper of the future of education are promoted by powerful global actors such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the European Commission (Saari and Säntti 2018), national educational administrations (Ingelby 2015), and various global technology companies and capital investment firms (Williamson 2018).…”

Section: Researching Ed-tech Speakmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paradoxes of participation in the digitalization of education: a narrative account

Mertala

2019

Learning, Media and Technology

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The language used around the digitalization of education tends to be inherently political, value-laden, and deterministic. This position paper scrutinizes this so-called 'Ed-Tech speak' via narrative methodology. The analytical focus is the paradoxes that exist between the normalizing master narratives of Ed-Tech speak and the complexity and polyphony of everyday praxis in terms of participation. By using an educational tablet project conducted in Finnish primary and secondary schools as an empirical example this paper will problematize the promise of participation in the context of the digitalization of education through three different viewpoints: paradoxes of societal participation, paradoxes of participatory pedagogics, and paradoxical politics of participation.

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Silicon startup schools: technocracy, algorithmic imaginaries and venture philanthropy in corporate education reform

Cited by 111 publications

References 22 publications

Decoding ClassDojo: psycho-policy, social-emotional learning and persuasive educational technologies

Decoding ClassDojo: psycho-policy, social-emotional learning and persuasive educational technologies

Rethinking the role of the academy: cognitive authority in the age of post-truth

Paradoxes of participation in the digitalization of education: a narrative account

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