Critical Digital Education

The Critical Digital Education Research Group explores the role of technology in learning and education, with a specific focus on inequality and social justice nationally and internationally.

Through varied projects that focus on different life stages and contexts of learning, our research interrogates the ways in which new technologies are reinforcing and exacerbating inequalities within our education systems and society as a whole. This work aims to both exemplify and try to change existing social and educational injustices. Our research is mixed-method, with a strong and growing emphasis on design and participatory approaches and the use of social-data science.

Our research is funded by multiple organisations including the British Academy, DFID, the Wellcome Trust, the European Commission, the ESRC, the Gates Foundation, John Fell Fund, the British Educational Research Association, the Nominet Trust, the Oxford IT Innovations Fund, Goldman Sachs Gives and Wikipedia.

Our activities build upon the past work of the Learning and New Technologies Research Group (LNTRG) that was based at the department from 2010-2021.

This group is convened by Rebecca Eynon / Jeremy Knox (covering sabbatical)

Below is a list of indicative publications since 2021.

2024

• Eynon, R. (2024). Algorithmic bias and discrimination through digitalisation in education: A socio-technical view. In World Yearbook of Education 2024 (pp. 245-260). Routledge.
• Knox, J. (2024). Learning with machines: Divisions and transformations in the era of datafication. In Translations and Participation: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives (pp. 133-156).
• Knox, J. (2024). Postdigital Research. In Encyclopedia of Postdigital Science and Education (pp. 1-6). Springer Nature. doi:1007/978-3-031-35469-4_61-1
• Palenski, T., Hills, L., Unnikrishnan, S., & Eynon, R. (2024). How AI Works: Reconfiguring Lifelong Learning. Postdigital Science and Education, 1-24.
• L.P. (2024). How do different forms of early employment instability affect future employment chances? A factorial survey experiment with employers. International Journal of Manpower https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-06-2023-0320
• L.P. & Palenski, T. (2024). From optimism to caution. An Analysis of the seemingly balance policy discourse on artificial intelligence in education. British Educational Research Association. https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/from-optimism-to-caution
• Veletsianos, G., Jandrić, P., MacKenzie, A., & Knox, J. (2024). Postdigital Research: Transforming Borders into Connections. Postdigital Science and Education, 6(2), 643-662. doi:10.1007/s42438-023-00450-4
• van de Oudeweetering, K., Knox, J., & Decuypere, M. (n.d.). Problematizing feedback loops: ëoní, ëwithí, and ëbeyondí analytics dashboards in MOOCs. Learning Media and Technology, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1-16. doi:10.1080/17439884.2023.2264188

2023

• Knox, J. (2023). AI and Education in China, Imagining the Future, Excavating the Past. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003375135
• Knox, J. (2023). A political economy of AI and education in China. In World Yearbook of Education 2024: Digitalisation of Education in the Era of Algorithms, Automation and Artificial Intelligence (pp. 155-171). doi:4324/9781003359722-12
• Komljenovic, J., Williamson, B., Eynon, R., & Davies, H. C. (2023). When public policy ‘fails’ and venture capital ‘saves’ education: Edtech investors as economic and political actors. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 1-16.
• Kuhn, C., Khoo, S. -M., Czerniewicz, L., Lilley, W., Bute, S., Crean, A., Abegglen, S., Burns, T., Sinfield, S., Jandrić, P., Knox, J and MacKenzie, A. (2023). Understanding Digital Inequality: A Theoretical Kaleidoscope. Postdigital Science and Education, 1-39.
• Knox, J. (2023). (Re)politicising data-driven education: from ethical principles to radical participation. Learning Media and Technology, 48(2), 200-212. doi:10.1080/17439884.2022.2158466
• Knox, J. (2023). Educational Development in the Postdigital Era. In International Handbook on Education Development in Asia-Pacific (pp. 1-20). Springer Nature. doi:10.1007/978-981-16-2327-1_119-1
• Lehdonvirta, V., Shi, L.P.,Hertog, E., Nagase, N., Ohta, Y. (2023).The Future(s) of Unpaid Work: How susceptible do experts from different backgrounds think the domestic sphere to automation. PLOS One, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281282
• Lincenberg, J. & Eynon, R. (2023). Crafting worldly spaces: The role of the educator in shaping student agency in Minecraft. Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies. 45(2),194-216
• Williamson, B., Eynon, R., Knox, J., & Davies, H. (2023). Critical perspectives on AI in education: political economy, discrimination, commercialization, governance and ethics. In Handbook of Artificial Intelligence in Education (pp. 553-570). Edward Elgar Publishing. doi:4337/9781800375413.00037

2022

• Eynon, R. (2022). Datafication and the role of schooling. In, Pangrazio, L., and Sefton-Green, J. (Eds). Learning to Live with Datafication: Educational Case Studies and Initiatives from Across the World. Routledge.
• Eynon, R. (2022). Utilising a critical realist lens to conceptualise digital inequality: the experiences of less well-off Internet users. Social Science Computer Review.
• Gillani, N., Eynon, R., Chiabaut, C. & Finkel, K. (2022). Unpacking the ‘Black Box’ of AI in Education. Educational Technology & Society, 26(1).
• Gillani, N., Chu, E., Beeferman, D., Eynon, R. & Roy, D. (2022). Parents’ online school reviews reflect several racial and socioeconomic disparities in K–12 education. AERA Open, 7.
• Currie, M., Knox, J., & Mcgregor, C. (Eds.) (2022). Data Justice and the Right to the City. Edinburgh University Press. Retrieved from https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-data-justice-and-the-right-to-the-city.html
• Jandrić, P., MacKenzie, A., & Knox, J. (2022). Postdigital Research: Genealogies, Challenges, and Future Perspectives. Postdigital Science and Education, 1-7.

• Knox, J. (2022). The Metaverse, or the Serious Business of Tech Frontiers. Postdigital Science and Education, 4(2), 207-215. doi:10.1007/s42438-022-00300-9
• Lamb, J., Carvalho, L., Gallagher, M., & Knox, J. (2022). Correction to: The Postdigital Learning Spaces of Higher Education. Postdigital Science and Education, 4(2), 630-631. doi:10.1007/s42438-022-00293-5
• Knox, J., Cui, X., Jin, Y., & Sun, B. (2022). Data, Artificial Intelligence, and the future of learning. The Chinese Journal of ICT in Education, 28(509), 5-12. Retrieved from https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3anP7AV_TTHoKzyNFozJbg
• Jandrić, P., & Knox, J. (2022). The postdigital turn: Philosophy, education, research. Policy Futures in Education, 20(7), 780-795. doi:10.1177/14782103211062713
• Knox, J., Hoel, T., & Yuan, L. (2022). From Principles to Processes. In Strategy, Policy, Practice, and Governance for AI in Higher Education Institutions (pp. 101-125). IGI Global. doi:4018/978-1-7998-9247-2.ch005
• Shi, L.P., Di Stasio, V. (2022). Finding a job after unemployment – Education as a moderator of unemployment scarring in Norway and Switzerland. Socio-Economic Review, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwaa056

2021

• Davies, H.C., Eynon, R. & Salveson, C. (2021). The mobilisation of AI in education: A Bourdieusean field analysis. Sociology, 55(3), 539-560.
• Denton-Calabrese, T., Mustain, P., Geniets, A., Hakimi, L. & Winters, N. (2021). Empowerment beyond skills: Computing and the enhancement of self-concept in the go_girl code+ create programme. Computers & Education.
• Eynon, R. (2021). Becoming digitally literate: Reinstating an educational lens to digital skills policies for adults. British Educational Research Journal, 47 (1), 146-162.
• Eynon, R. & Malmberg, L.-E. (2021). Lifelong learning and the Internet: Who benefits most from learning online? British Journal of Educational Technology, 52 (2), 569 -583.
• Eynon, R. & Young, E. (2021). Methodology, legend, and rhetoric: The constructions of AI by academia, industry, and policy groups for lifelong learning. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 46(1), 166-191.
• Geniets, A., O’Donovan, J., Hakimi, L. & Winters, N. (2021). Training for Community Health: Bridging the global health care gap. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Hakimi, L., Eynon, R. & Murphy, V. (2021). The ethics of using digital trace data in education: a thematic review of the research landscape. Review of Educational Research, 91(5), 671-717.
• Kahn, K. & Winters, N. (2021). Constructionism and AI: A history and possible futures. British Journal of Educational Technology, 52(3), 1130-1142.
• Winters, N. & Patel, K.  (2021). Can a reconceptualization of online training be part of the solution to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic? Journal of Inter-professional Care, 35(2), 161-163.
• Knox, J. (2021). How the ëtamingí of private education in China is impacting AI. On Education: Journal for Research and Debate, (12). doi:10.17899/on_ed.2021.12.6
• Lamb, J., Carvalho, L., Gallagher, M., & Knox, J. (2021). The Postdigital Learning Spaces of Higher Education. Postdigital Science and Education, 4(1), 1-12.
• Jandric, P., & Knox, J. (2021). The postdigital turn. Journal of Distance Education in China.
• Knox, J. (2021). Refocusing Zuboffís ëdivision of learningí on education. Seminar.net, 17(2). doi:10.7577/seminar.4268
• Gourlay, L., RodrÌguez-Illera, J. L., Barber‡, E., Bali, M., Gachago, D., Pallitt, N., . . . Knox, J. (2021). Networked Learning in 2021: A Community Definition. Postdigital Science and Education, 3(2), 326-369. doi:10.1007/s42438-021-00222-y
• Reader, J., Jandrić, P., Peters, M. A., Barnett, R., Garbowski, M., Lipińska, V., . . . Baker, C. (2021). Enchantment – Disenchantment-Re-Enchantment: Postdigital Relationships between Science, Philosophy, and Religion. Postdigital Science and Education, 3(3), 934-965. doi:10.1007/s42438-020-00133-4
• Shi, L.P., Wang, S. (2021). Demand-side consequences of unemployment and horizontal skills mismatch across national contexts: An employer-based factorial survey experiment. Social Science Research, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102668

The Critical Digital Education Research Group has a lively academic culture that brings together a multidisciplinary group of academics and postgraduates from across Oxford to explore the role of technology in learning and education, with a specific focus on inequality and social justice nationally and internationally. We welcome applications from DPhil students interested in this area. We also run the MSc Education (Digital and Social Change).

Examples of current DPhil projects:

• Manal Bougazzoul: Teens, Tech and Learning: An Intersectional Approach to Understanding the Links between Social and Digital Inequalities.
• Karim Elmehairy: Exploring configurations of and patterns of engagement with learning resources within learning ecologies.

Examples of recently completed DPhil projects:

• Tracey Calabrese: Shaping School Culture to Transform Education: An Ethnographic Study of New Technology High Schools.
• Laura Pinkerton: Does not compute: social dissonance in England’s new computing education policy.
• Julianne Viola: Civic Identity in the Digital Age: An investigation into the civic experiences of American young people.
• Erin Young: (Un)settling differences: Re-conceptualisations of technologically-mediated interdisciplinary research in Higher Education.

The work of the Critical Digital Research Group aims to impact research, policy and practice locally nationally and internationally in variety of different ways. Examples include:

• Shaping the academic debate through editorial roles for leading academic journals including the British Journal of Educational Technology, Learning, Media and Technology, British Journal of Sociology of Education, Teaching in Higher Education, and Postdigital Science and Technology.
• Advising policy makers, including giving advice to Select Committees and contributing to parliamentary briefings in the UK, and providing research insights for intergovernmental organisations such as the OECD and UN.
• Supporting practical initiatives, for example via GoGirl, a programme that partnered with Oxfordshire County Council to provide opportunities for marginalised young women to explore training, education and technology through creative programming activities.