Datafied

Cooperation with the Institute for Information Management Bremen, the Georg-Eckert-Institute – Leibniz Institute for Studies in International Textbook Research (GEI), the Helmut-Schmidt-University Hamburg (HSU) and the Leibniz-Institute for Research and Information in Education (DIPF)

Funded by the Federal Ministery for Education and Research (BMBF)

Mitarbeit: Irina Zakharova und Tjark Raabe

The DATAFIED joint research project investigates how the construction of schooling is changing as formal education is becoming increasingly datafied. The DATAFIED team examines both administrative and classroom practices. It observes how the availability of digital data through information systems and learning software is entangled with shifting roles, professional practices and social/pedagogical relationships. It asks which novel understandings of what makes a ‘good school’ emerge. It explores how people and systems deal with data and to what extent the school is being de- or reconstructed as a result of these (increasingly professionalised) data practices. 

Four sub-projects (SPs) each highlight a different interface within the public school system. SP1 (Schulaufsicht und Schule) examines the interface between school authorities and the school. It aims to identify potential changes in the relationship between these organisations that materialise through digital and data technology implementation: in particular with regard to (external) evaluation and consultations. SP2 (Schulmanagement und Schulinformationssysteme) considers the information systems used by school management. It asks how the organisation of schools is being altered by the use of data and algorithms and what role software developers play. SP3 (Digitale Lernsoftware und Unterricht) unpacks the digital tools used in classrooms, analysing the interface between digital learning software and classroom practice. It asks how the software prefigures data practices, educational priorities and teacher and student roles. SP4 (Lehrkräfte und SchülerInnen im Unterricht) studies the interface between teachers and students in the classroom. It explores media use and the associated data gathering, monitoring and analysis, and examines the shifting relationships and teacher and student roles within the classroom setting.