Week of Engagement
One of the major elements of governing with data is the ability of institutions to use tracked data to improve institutional management. In order to further harness this reality, this week I decided to track my engagements with learners in a course I facilitate. The rise and prevalence of big data have given governments and other data management organizations the ability to continuously track and monitor individuals and use such data for governance (Williamson, 2017). Hence, I wanted to identify patterns from my visualizations that can be used to inform some elements of policy around student engagements with faculty in the educational setting.
One reply on “Block 3: Week 10”
Another really effective dataviz. It is very clear why having some of this data could be useful to a teacher, or perhaps also to a school leader. But I like the way you have drawn on Ozga to acknowledge the limitations of this kind of data, particularly if it is used to assess “performance”. As you prepare for your final dataviz and reflections, perhaps you could look again at the Ozga piece and what she says about “thin description”, and the ways simplified, accessible data get used for making policy decisions or to decide about how to govern schools/teachers. You’ve acknowledged that “expert knowledge” is required for consequential decision-making, but increasingly it seems as though “expert knowledge” and contextualized explanations are squeezed out by thin data descriptions. I look forward to your final dataviz and reflections next time.