My forecast for the future is one that explores the possibility of big data informing differentiated and student specific learning along with intentional instructional choices. I’m curious how, educators might mobilize complex and multi-faceted data to reimagine teaching and learning through an application on a mobile device. The world will always need educators, however the way we teach should augmented and redefined as we look towards the future.
References:
Armstrong, P. (2016). Bloom’s taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching.
O’neil, C. (2016). Weapons of math destruction: How big data increases inequality and threatens democracy. Crown.
Hi Grace,
While technology has taken over some jobs, I think in jobs dealing with people, technology falls short, so I appreciate how you described big data as adding another “layer” to teaching rather than taking over teaching. IEPs for all students sounds daunting at first, but with today’s DIY culture and options along with flipped learning, maybe it will be manageable in the near future with the help of technology. Thanks for the thoughtful presentation of big data!
Thank you for this. It’s was very refreshing to finally hear a conversation about big data that is not full of acronyms and high level processes that I don’t understand. I keep hearing about data in our district but I find it hard to refer to it as “big data” since we are a fairly small district. I do think comparative data would be useful if we could even compare classes or individual students to a large data set as you described. We don’t have any built in tools in any of our SIS, website or portfolio tools that allow any of this to take place. This would be very helpful at a provincial level as part of the SIS, reporting, curriculum development and implementation as well as any vetted and approved LMS tools. There are third party tools but the issue of privacy becomes very real at that point. You also acknowledged the changes needed in teaching practice surrounding the collection of information and how that can change teaching practice. The only thing that I would disagree with you here is with regards to the first six weeks of school. This is the transitional part of the year that students need to adapt to a new environment and warm up after two months away. I think we could embrace this as an opportunity to set the foundations for creativity, critical thinking and the personal and social goals so not time wasted, just sometimes misused. Another option, that big data could inform and change this transitional period, would be year round schooling. One question that I would love to hear other’s opinions on is how do we do this at a higher level like provincial or global but not make it a ranking system like the BC Foundation Skills Assessments have been portrayed?
Hi Grace. Big data is a topic that so many are afraid to tackle, and your podcast did an excellent job tackling the concept and breaking it down into understandable chunks. Coming from a science background interested in epidemiology, data to develop predictions has always been important. From an education perspective, mining data from chat groups, social media etc., could be so valuable in looking at trends and identifying new ways of educating or changing curriculums or modes to the administration of classes or exams. The fact that we can run longitudinal studies within schools can also be impactful in looking at ways to improve teaching methodologies.
Hi Grace, What a great project. I like the podcast for this kind of thoughtful discussion regarding touchy topics like Big Data. Your project made me immediately think of my own work. In my work at the International Institution for Educational Planning, I work with a specialists that teach about disability data in school systems (pulled from the Education Management Information System (EMIS) surveys). We always talk about the important of getting accurate data from schools to properly plan at the central governmental level in order to provide for students with additional learning needs. Beyond accessibility, the use of this data would be extremely useful. I’m sure one of the primary concerns would be about privacy. I wonder what you think about the potential trade off between individual privacy and the benefits of using this data. Wonderful thought-provoking project. Great job!
I am so glad that you covered this content and that you created a podcast to examine the potential of using big data. I appreciated how you analyzed the pros and cons of using big data in creating learner portfolios and the potential bias that is present already and could potentially be present within this use of data as well. I really like the concept of this. It would be incredibly beneficial if teachers were given a more accurate account of each learner and the trends of this data over time and compared to a wider population, yes there are concerns, but I do feel education is dynamic and technology in education has a great deal of potential to better support students and their individual learning needs; which at the moment is being supported through sticky notes, files and an altogether varied way of communication. The idea of a single portfolio to better know how to support learners would be incredible welcome in my classroom. Thanks for the in-depth presentation and overall concept, well done!
Fantastic dive into this topic Ellen. I love the strands of exploration in this and personally can’t wait to have a virtual assistant running machine learning algorithms for me in the background.
That being said, the programmer in me shriveled up a little thinking about the complexity of making this happen.
https://xkcd.com/1425/
That being said, if we can make it work, the potential for further educational analysis is breathtaking.
Very insightful podcast Grace. Thank you for sharing and providing some references.
I like how you referenced the need for a bit of caution when incorporating big data into education – it might “actually perpetuate” bias. Perhaps that is where machine learning and artificial intelligence can play a role in limiting the need for human bias (although it probably can’t account for bias within the data). In my ETEC 510 class (module 5) we explored a little about how data can transfer design and assessment.
I think big data can help direct educators to the best methods of connecting with learners and empower educators to efficiently meet the learning styles of individual learners.