‘Education technology and data science for inclusive systems’ – Interview with Patrick Montjouridés on 2019 UKFIET conference theme

NORRAG Senior Research Associate Patrick Montjouridès was recently interviewed on “Education technology and data science for inclusive systems” as theme co-convenor of one of six 2019 UKFIET conference themes, ‘Education technology and data science for inclusive systems’.

What excites you about the theme of ‘education technology and data science for inclusive systems’?

As with all data today, education data have previously been considered boring and laborious, but have now become an attractive and better funded area of work and research. Many stakeholders pitched in and tried both to be trendy and attract funding through this new potential hook. I feel that this buzz has in turn produced some confusion with regard to the nature and usefulness of data in education.

On the one hand, it has generated some push-back from part of the academic community, wary of the “edu-business”, worried about the evidence-based politicisation of educational choices, and perhaps at times apprehensive of a complex and difficult accessible domain. On the other hand, this emphasis on data has opened a number of new avenues for researchers and practitioners in education, and social sciences and humanities at large.

The full article is available at the following link