Educational technologies (EdTech) are usually still a 'black box' (Hartong, 2021), not only in their functionality but also in their genesis, in which algorithmic logics can inscribe themselves into the implementation of a pedagogical concept (Donner & Allert, 2022; Weich et al., 2021). Due to their methodology, previous studies on the development of educational media technology have only been able to hypothesize the discrepancy between the pedagogical concept and the actual implementation of an EdTech product. I would like to close this gap with my dissertation project by critically accompanying developers in their work in a relatively young EdTech company through media ethnography. I would like to investigate which fundamental design decisions are made when translating pedagogical concepts into algorithmic environments, how and why. The planned project is situated in two contexts. On the one hand, it is characterized by the assumption that educational media technologies emerge in an interplay of socio-technically negotiated ideas and social construction, which must be researched. Secondly, my dissertation project is based on the assumption that global educational media production is undergoing a decisive digital transformation in which new players, such as EdTech start-ups, are entering the market and fundamentally changing it.

Literature

Donner, M., & Allert, H. (2022). Auf dem Weg zur Cyberpolis: Neue Formen von Gemeinschaft, Selbst und Bildung (1. Aufl., Bd. 41). transcript Verlag.

Hartong, S. (2021). The power of relation-making: Insights into the production and operation of digital school performance platforms in the US. Critical Studies in Education, 62(1), 34–49.

Weich, A., Deny, P., Priedigkeit, M., & Troeger, J. (2021). Adaptive Lernsysteme zwischen Optimierung und Kritik: Eine Analyse der Medienkonstellationen bettermarks aus informatischer und medienwissenschaftlicher Perspektive. MedienPädagogik: Zeitschrift für Theorie und Praxis der Medienbildung, 44, 22–51. 

Team: Julie Lüpkes

Duration: 2023-2027