The prevalence of digital tech in schools is raising student privacy concerns among academics.
An international team of researchers suggest many classroom education tools are collecting student data in ways that could threaten privacy and wellbeing.
University of South Australia researcher, and contributing author to a new book Handbook of Children and Screens, Jamie Manolev said there was a lack of transparency around education technologies.
“Ed-tech products have rapidly flooded classrooms worldwide, but this has outpaced regulation and research,” Dr Manolev said.
“As a result, many tools have been adopted without understanding their long-term educational or ethical impacts.
“Children shouldn’t just be taught with technologies, but about them, which centres on the knowledge and competencies of each teacher, who should be supported to understand the inner workings of the programs they use.”
Dr Manolev said while ed-tech presented new opportunities for engaging students, supporting personalised learning, improving access, and streamlining school processes, most tools were data-hungry, capturing information during every interaction from lessons and assessments to communication and monitoring.
“It risks turning students into datapoints, limiting their potential as human beings, and raising concerns about student wellbeing, privacy, and surveillance.
“Furthermore, while ed-tech is designed to level the playing field – especially for students in rural or remote areas – barriers like internet access, data bias, and cost can still leave many behind.”
