Digital platforms and datification in education: uses, effects and alternatives towards digital sovereignty / Alt4Edu

Educational technologies and datafication have become one of the challenges of educational reform at a global level, making evident their relevance as key tools in the governance of education and in the learning processes.

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to the accelerated introduction of new digital infrastructures, platforms, and tools into national education systems, transforming teaching and learning processes and the teaching profession.

The introduction of digital platforms in education has shown that not all schools are in the same condition to make good use of them. In fact, its introduction can even contribute to exacerbating processes of school segregation and widening educational inequalities.

In this context, the Alt4Edu project aims to contribute to a better understanding of the effects of the massive introduction of digital platforms in the field of education.

Objectives

The main objective of Alt4Edu is to investigate the uses of digital platforms in public secondary schools in Catalonia, paying special attention to their organizational and pedagogical effects and their potential in the generation or strengthening of alternatives that promote digital sovereignty.

This general objective is unpacked into 4 specific objectives:

Analyzing the adoption of policies and plans that incorporate digital platforms and datafication in the Catalan education system in a post-pandemic context.
Exploring the process of incorporating digital platforms in public compulsory secondary education in Catalonia.
Analyzing the uses of digital platforms in education and the organizational, pedagogical, and relational effects of their incorporation in public high-schools in Catalonia.
Making recommendations on the use of digital platforms in public compulsory secondary education contexts.

Methodology

The project follows a sequential logic designed in 4 phases: 1) construction of a theoretical-analytical approach; 2) review of digitization policies in Spain and Catalonia; 3) analysis of the discourses of management teams of educational centers; and 4) dissemination and return to the educational community.

These phases are developed through a multi-method approach that uses a systematic review of scientific literature, semi-structured interviews with people in charge of enacting the digitization strategy of education in Catalonia, analysis of key documents, and workshops with members of the educational community. In addition, the project is connected to the previous research developed by the team in the framework of the edDIT project.

Results

Alt4Edu proposes three types of results: 1) publication and social transfer of research results, both in the academic field and among the educational community; 2) information for the elaboration of innovative educational policies that advance towards a digital sovereignty of the educational system; and 3) training of research and work teams in the field of the processes of planning and datafication of education.