Becoming information centric: the emergence of new cognitive infrastructures in education policy

New cognitive infrastructures are emerging as digital platforms and artificial intelligence enable new forms of automated thinking that shape human decision-making. This paper (a) offers a new theoretical perspective on automated thinking in education policy and (b) illustrates how automated thinkin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of education policy 2021-05, Vol.36 (3), p.309-326
Main Authors: Sellar, Sam, Gulson, Kalervo N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Artificial Intelligence
Automation
Computation
data science
Decision Making
education
Educational Policy
Foreign Countries
infrastructure
Mathematics
policy
Policy Analysis
Policy Formation
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Summary:New cognitive infrastructures are emerging as digital platforms and artificial intelligence enable new forms of automated thinking that shape human decision-making. This paper (a) offers a new theoretical perspective on automated thinking in education policy and (b) illustrates how automated thinking is emerging in one specific policy context. We report on a case study of a policy analysis unit ('The Centre') in an Australian state education department that has been implementing a BI strategy since 2013. The Centre is now focused on using BI to support complex decision making and improve learning outcomes, and their strategy describes this focus as becoming 'information centric'. The theoretical framework for our analysis draws on infrastructure studies and philosophy of technology, particularly Luciana Parisi's recent work on automated thinking. We analyse technical documentation and semi-structured interview data to describe the enactment of a BI strategy in The Centre, with a focus on how new approaches to data analytics are shaping decision-making. Our analysis shows that The Centre is developing a cognitive infrastructure that is already creating new conditions for education policy making, and we conclude with a call for research designs that enable pragmatic exploration of what these infrastructures can do.
ISSN:0268-0939
1464-5106
DOI:10.1080/02680939.2019.1678766