Prof. Dr. Felicitas Macgilchrist
Prof. Dr. Felicitas Macgilchrist
Felicitas Macgilchrist is Professor of Digital Education and Schooling. Her research and teaching explores the cultural politics of educational technology, with a focus on critical, ethnographic and speculative approaches. She is Principal Investigator of research projects at the nexus of digital culture and education, including the ethnographic study of digital practices in schools (LernDiWa), design-based research in FabLabs (FaBuLoUS), critical utopian approaches to education (ETIC), and the transformation of epistemic practices when textbooks become digital (BM4). She is project lead on the international joint project, Reconfigurations of Educational In/Edualities in a Digital World (RED), co-editor of Learning, Media and Technology and founder of Palgrave Studies in Educational Media. She occasionally advises local, regional and national governments as well as the EU and UNESCO on issues related to digital education and educational technology (edtech).
Curriculum vitae
| Since 2023 | Professor of Digital Education and Schooling [Digitale Bildung in der Schule], Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Germany |
| Founder and Curator of the Re:Lab, the Praxis Lab for Rethinking EdTech Futures | |
| 2019 – 2023 | Department Head, Media|Transformation [Mediale Transformationen], Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsmedien | Georg-Eckert-Institute (GEI), Braunschweig, Germany |
| Founder and Head of The Basement. The Georg-Eckert-Institute’s Digital Lab | |
| Co-Founder and Deputy Speaker of the Leibniz ScienceCampus—Postdigital Participation—Braunschweig | |
| 2016 – 2023 | Professor of Media Research with a Focus on Educational Media [Medienforschung mit dem Schwerpunkt Bildungsmedien], Institute for Educational Science, University of Göttingen, Germany |
| 2016 | Habilitation, Education, TU Braunschweig, Germany |
| 2016 | Visiting Scholar, University of Birmingham, UK |
| 2015 – 2018 | Department Head, Textbooks as Media, GEI |
| 2013 – 2017 | Junior Research Group Leader, GEI |
| 2012 – 2013 | Maternity leave |
| 2011 | Visiting Scholar, Gent University, Belgium |
| 2009 – 2012 | Research Fellow (Postdoc), GEI |
| 2009 | Dr. phil., Cultural Sciences, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany |
| 2006 – 2007 | Head of Languages, Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, Germany |
| 2004 – 2005 | Visiting Scholar, New York University, USA |
| 2003 – 2009 | PhD candidate, DFG Graduate School “Representation – Rhetoric – Knowledge”, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder, Germany |
| 2003 | MA Education (Applied Linguistics), Open University, UK |
| 1998 – 2004 | Teacher, trainer and teacher trainer for English as a Foreign Language, various language institutes and universities in Germany, Russia, Vietnam and the UK |
| 1998 | RSA/Cambridge CELTA (Certificate in Language Teaching to Adults), International House, Newcastle, UK |
| 1997 | BSc (Honours) Psychology, University of Edinburgh, UK |
Research Interests
- Digital education: What kinds of futures are, for instance, imagined by today's edtech, educational policy or educational practices? Are educational institutions changing as they use new technologies and data infrastructures? If so, how?
- Education, technology and inequality: How is technology - from blackboards to "AI" - entangled with inequality in education? How are educational stakeholders engaging with technology and inequality? Where can we find design justice in edtech?
- Qualitative and post-qualitative inquiry: How do discourse studies, ethnography, speculative methods, critical data studies, and design research help us to explore education? How can a critical utopian approach contribute to theorising education?
Lectures
Publications
A full list of publications can be found here, with approx. 100 publications on technology, education and media discourse:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Felicitas-Macgilchrist
Recent work on design (justice) and planetary futures
Costello, E., McDonald, J., Macgilchrist, F., Jandrić, P., Carbonel, H., Crighton, S., Buch, A., & Peters, M. A. (2024). Speculative Practicescapes of Learning Design and Dreaming. Postdigital Science and Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-024-00465-5
Macgilchrist, F. (2024). Design justice and educational technology: Designing in the fissures. In B. Williamson, J. Komljenovic, & K. N. Gulson (Eds.), World Yearbook of Education 2024 (Digitalization of Education in the Era of Algorithms, Automation, and Artificial Intelligence) (pp. 294-310). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003359722
Macgilchrist, F., Jarke, J., Allert, H., & Cerratto Pargman, T. (Eds.). (2024). Designing Postdigital Futures (Special Issue). Postdigital Science and Education. https://link.springer.com/journal/42438/volumes-and-issues/6-1.
Macgilchrist, F., Jarke, J., Allert, H., & Cerratto Pargman, T. (2024). Design Beyond Design Thinking: Designing Postdigital Futures when Weaving Worlds with Others. Postdigital Science and Education, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-023-00447-z
Heath, M. K., Krutka, D. G., Jarke, J., & Macgilchrist, F. (2024). Critique needs Community: : On a Humanities Approach to a Civics of Technology. Postdigital Science and Education, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-023-00448-y, and free-to-read here: https://rdcu.be/dwbxm
Macgilchrist, F., Jarke, J., Allert, H., & Cerratto Pargman, T. (2024). Designing postdigital futures: Which designs? Whose futures? Postdigital Science and Education, 6(1).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-022-00389-y
Macgilchrist, F. (2024). Technology, Activism and Living among Planetary Ruins. In H. Kminek, M. Singer-Brodowski, & V. Holz (Eds.), Bildung für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung im Umbruch? Beiträge zur Theorieentwicklung angesichts ökologischer, gesellschaftlicher und individueller Umbrüche (pp. 79-102). Opladen: Budrich. Open access: https://shop.budrich.de/produkt/bildung-fuer-eine-nachhaltige-entwicklung-im-umbruch/
Macgilchrist, F., & Costello, E. (2023). Imagination and justice: Teaching the future(s) of higher education through Africanfuturist speculative fiction. In L. Czerniewicz & C. Cronin (Eds.), Higher Education for Good (pp. 445–472). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0363.19
Macgilchrist, F. (2021). Rewilding technology. On Education. Journal for Research and Debate, 4(12). https://doi.org/10.17899/on_ed.2021.12.2
Recent work on AI, datafication and schools
Macgilchrist, F. (2024). AI in education: How developers and legislators make futures. NORRAG Policy Insights: AI and Digital Inequities, 15-16. https://www.norrag.org/news-policy-insights-ai-digital-inequities/
Macgilchrist, F. (2024). “Es geht nicht darum, keine Daten zu haben, aber diese Daten sollten vergemeinschaftet sein”. In M. Schiefner-Rohs, S. Hofhues, & A. Breiter (Eds.), Datafizierung in der Bildung: Kritische Perspektiven auf digitale Vermessung in pädagogischen Kontexten (pp. 229-238). transcript. https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-6582-6/datafizierung-in-der-bildung/?number=978-3-8394-6582-0
Hillman, T., Macgilchrist, F., & Kiesewetter, S. (2024). Epistemologies of data visualisations: On producing certainties, geographies and digitalities in critical educational research. on_education. Journal for Research and Debate. https://www.oneducation.net/no-18_december-2023/epistemologies-of-data-visualisations-on-producing-certainties-geographies-and-digitalities-in-critical-educational-research/
Macgilchrist, F., Hartong, S., & Jornitz, S. (2023). Algorithmische Datafizierung und Schule: kritische Ansätze in einem wachsenden Forschungsfeld. In K. Scheiter & I. Gogolin (Eds.), Bildung für die digitale Zukunft (Edition ZfE). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-37895-0_13
Bock, A., Breiter, A., Hartong, S., Jarke, J., Jornitz, S., Lange, A., & Macgilchrist, F. (Eds.). (2023). Die datafizierte Schule. Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-38651-1
Macgilchrist, F. (2023). “Es geht nicht darum, keine Daten zu haben, aber diese Daten sollten vergemeinschaftet sein”. In M. Schiefner-Rohs, S. Hofhues, & A. Breiter (Eds.), Datafizierung in der Bildung: Kritische Perspektiven auf digitale Vermessung in pädagogischen Kontexten (pp. 229-238). transcript. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783839465820-014
Williamson, B., Macgilchrist, F., & Potter, J. (2023). Re-examining AI, automation and datafication in education Learning, Media & Technology, 48(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2023.2167830
Recent ethnographic work on digital practices in schools
Proske, M., Rabenstein, K., Moldenhauer, A., Thiersch, S., Bock, A., Herrle, M., Hoffmann, M., Langer, A., Macgilchrist, F., Wagener-Böck, N., & Wolf, E. (Eds.). (2023). Schule und Unterricht im digitalen Wandel. Ansätze und Erträge rekonstruktiver Forschung. Klinkhardt. https://www.klinkhardt.de/verlagsprogramm/2550.html#
Rabenstein, K., Wagener-Böck, N., Macgilchrist, F., & Bock, A. (2022). Interferenzen in digitalen Praktiken der Bereitstellung von unterrichtlichen Aufgaben. Ethnographische Beobachtungen in der Pandemie. Sozialer Sinn, 297-316. https://doi.org/10.1515/sosi-2022-0016
Wagener-Böck, N., Macgilchrist, F., Rabenstein, K., & Bock, A. (2023). From automation to symmation: Ethnographic perspectives on what happens in front of the screen. Postdigital Science and Education, 5, 136–151. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-022-00350-z
Recent commentaries on critical studies of education and technology
Macgilchrist, F. (2023). Diskurs der Digitalität und Pädagogik. In S. Assmann & N. Ricken (Eds.), Bildung und Digitalität. Analysen – Diskurse - Perspektiven (pp. 47-71). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-30766-0_3
Macgilchrist, F. (2023). Postdigital validity: Peer reviews on the edges of modernity. In P. Jandrić, A. MacKenzie, & J. Knox (Eds.), Constructing Postdigital Research: Method and Emancipation (pp. 211-225). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35411-3_11
Macgilchrist, F. (2021). Theories of Postdigital Heterogeneity: Implications for Research on Education and Datafication. Postdigital Science and Education, 3(3), 660-667. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-021-00232-w
Macgilchrist, F. (2021). What is ‘critical’ in critical studies of edtech? Three responses. Learning, Media & Technology, 46(3), 243-249. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2021.1958843
Recent work on postdigital participation
Autorinnenkollektiv FaBuLoUS. (2024). Möglichkeitsräume zwischen FabLabs und Schulen: Perspektiven und praktische Erkundungen. München: Kopaed.
Büchner, F., Bittner, M., & Macgilchrist, F. (2023). Imaginationen von Ungleichheit im Notfall-Distanzunterricht: Analyse eines Policydiskurses und seiner Problemrepräsentationen. MedienPädagogik: Zeitschrift für Theorie und Praxis der Medienbildung, 20, 347-373. https://doi.org/10.21240/mpaed/jb20/2023.09.14.X
Weich, A., & Macgilchrist, F. (Eds.). (2023). Postdigital Participation in Education. Palgrave. https://link.springer.com/book/9783031380518
Poltze, K., Demuth, K., Eke, S., Moebus, A., & Macgilchrist, F. (2022). Erfahrungen des Partizipierens. Reflexionen zu partizipativen Forschungs- und Gestaltungsprozessen. bildungsforschung, 2022(2), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.25539/bildungsforschung.v0i2.900
Research projects
Current projects
- Re:Lab, Praxis Lab for Reimagining EdTech Futures, funded by the Niedersachsen Ministry of Science and Culture ("Chairs of Digitalisation" (500.000 EUR) (2024-2029)
- Reconfigurations of Educational In/Equality in a Digital World (RED), funded by the Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (1.487.000 EUR) (2020-2024).
- Bildungsmedien 4.0? Eine Analyse zu den Veränderungen von Produktion und Vermittlungswissen im Feld der Bildungsmedien, von der DFG gefördert (210.150 EUR) (2020-2024).
- Educational Ecosystems: Patterns, Practices and Services (EEPPS), funded by the Telekom Foundation (157,366 EUR) (2023-2024)
Associated with Speculative Social Science Fiction of Digitalization in Higher Education in Finland.
Previous projects (selection)
- Education, Technology and Inequality after Corona: A Critical Utopian Approach (ETIC), funded by the Volkswagen Foundation (“Corona Crisis and Beyond”) (120,000 EUR, of which 88,000 for local project) (2021-2023).
- FabLabs als Bildungs- und Lernorte zur Unterstutzung von Schulen: Schlussel fur eine Integration informeller, non-formaler und formaler Bildung (FaBuLoUS), funded by the BMBF (171,545 EUR for local project) (2020-2023).
- Lernkultur im digitalen Wandel. Ethnographische Studien zu Schule und Unterricht (LernDiWa), funded by the Niedersachsen Ministry of Science and Culture (250,000, of which 122,000 EUR for local project) (2019-2023).
- Leibniz WissenschaftsCampus—Postdigitale Partizipation —Braunschweig, funded by the Leibiz Association and the Niedersachsen Ministry of Science and Culture (Phase 1: 1,571,607 EUR, Phase II: 2,179,860 EUR) (2019-2023)
- The Basement: Das Digital Lab des Leibniz-Instituts für Bildungsmedien, Seed funding by the Niedersachsen Ministry of Science and Culture (247,734 EUR) (2019-2021)
- DATA For and In Education. The Construction of School in a Datafied Society (DATAFIED), funded by the BMBF (398.329 EUR for the local project) (2018-2023)
- Islamischer Religionsunterrricht: Aushandlung, Vermittlung und Aneignung eines neuen Faches (IRU-AVA), funded by the Niedersachsen Ministry of Science and Culture 250,000 EUR, of which 125,000 for local project) (2018-2023)
- globalDAS: Global Citizenship at German Schools Abroad, funded by the German Foreign Office (69,000 EUR) (2019-2021)
- digDAS: Digital Media at German Schools Abroad, funded by the German Foreign Office (166,988 EUR) (2016-2018)
- Memory Practices: Enacting and Contesting the Curriculum in Contemporary Classrooms, a junior research group, funded by the Leibniz Association (850,188 EUR) (2012-2017)
Academic service
- Since 2024: Council member, the Center for Migration and Cultural Studies (CMC)
- Since 2024: Working group on Media Education and Sustainability (DGfE)
- Since 2024: Member, Zentrum für Lehrkräftebildung – Didaktisches Zentrum (DiZ)
- Since 2024: Central student advisor, BA Pädagogik und MA Erziehungs- und Bildungswissenschaft
- Since 2022: Advisory board member, Hagen University Press
- Since 2021: Co-Editor of Learning, Media and Technology
- Since 2021: Advisory board member, ZeMKI
- Since 2016: Co-Editor of Palgrave Studies in Educational Media
Previous academic service (selection)
- Member of the governing body of the Leibniz Institute for Educational Media
- Co-Speaker, Leibniz WissenschaftsCampus – Postdigitale Partizipation – Braunschweig
- Founder and Head of The Basement – The Leibniz Institute for Educational Media’s Digital Lab
- Nominated member, Leibniz Strategy Forum on Digital Transformation
- Founding member and member of the advisory board, DiscourseNet, the International Association for Discourse Studies
- Co-Lead, Knowledge Exchange Group in the BMBF's Roadmap on Data Literacy and Data Culture