Political computational thinking:policy networks, digital governance and ‘learning to code’

Reflecting political shifts toward both ‘network governance' and ‘digital governance', the idea of ‘learning to code' has become part of a major reform agenda in education policy in England. This article provides a ‘policy network analysis' tracing the governmental, business and civil society actors now operating in policy networks to project learning to code into the reformed programs of study for computing in the National Curriculum in England. The insertion of learning to code into the curriculum provides evidence of how the education policy process is being displaced to cross-sector ‘boundary organizations' such as ‘policy labs' that act as connecting nodes to broker networks across public and private sector borderlines. It also examines how the pedagogies of learning to code are intended to inculcate young people into the material practices and systems of thought associated with computer coding, and to contribute to new forms of ‘digital governance'. These developments are evidence of a ‘reluctant state' deconcentrating its responsibilities, and also of a computational style of political thinking that assumes policy problems can be addressed using the right code. Learning to code is seen as a way of shaping governable citizens that can participate in the dynamics of digital governance

Education recoded: policy mobilities in the international 'learning to code' agenda

Education policy increasingly takes place across borders and sectors, involving a variety of both human and nonhuman actors. This comparative policy paper traces the 'policy mobilities,' 'fast policy' processes and distributed 'policy assemblages' that have led to the introduction of new computer programming practices into schools and curricula in England, Sweden and Australia. Across the three contexts, government advisors and ministers, venture capital firms, think tanks and philanthropic foundations, non-profit organizations and commercial companies alike have promoted computer programming in schools according to a variety of purposes, aspirations, and commitments. This paper maps and traces the evolution of the organizational networks in each country in order to provide a comparative analysis of computing in schools as an exemplar of accelerated, transnationalizing policy mobility. The analysis demonstrates how computing in schools policy has been assembled through considerable effort to create alignments between diverse actors, the production and circulation of material objects, significant cross-border movement of ideas, people and devices, and the creation of strategic partnerships between government centres and commercial vendors. Computing in schools exemplifies how modern education policy and governance is accomplished through sprawling assemblages of actors, events, materials, money and technologies that move across social, governmental and geographical boundaries

Collective Intelligence in Law Reforms: When the Logic of the Crowds and the Logic of Policymaking Collide

Abstrac

Online Deliberation Lived Experiences of Kānaka Maoli Women.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2018

Youth and Memory in Europe

What kind of historical narratives are young people exposed to and what do they make of them? This volume brings together humanities and social sciences scholars in a study of youth and memory in different European regions. It explores the connections between the historical narratives expressed by young people and the broader, multifaceted historical narratives mediated by their cultures

Beyond Quantity: Research with Subsymbolic AI

How do artificial neural networks and other forms of artificial intelligence interfere with methods and practices in the sciences? Which interdisciplinary epistemological challenges arise when we think about the use of AI beyond its dependency on big data? Not only the natural sciences, but also the social sciences and the humanities seem to be increasingly affected by current approaches of subsymbolic AI, which master problems of quality (fuzziness, uncertainty) in a hitherto unknown way. But what are the conditions, implications, and effects of these (potential) epistemic transformations and how must research on AI be configured to address them adequately

Re-designing Design and Technology Education: A living literature review of stakeholder perspectives

Created following the amalgamation of several individual subject disciplines, in England, design and technology is in decline. Debates about its purpose and position have taken place since its inception but arguably these have not transferred into a rigorous research base. There is a growing body of scholars exploring the field, but with the decline of the subject, so the community working and investigating it is also diminished. Without a strong foundation, the actions of the few may not carry sufficient weight to generate full and meaningful debate that would influence those with the power to change policy on curriculum and lead to innovation. If we are to have any hope of reversing the subject’s deterioration, we must do something bold and significant. While an awareness of the subject’s history and its evolution is integral to our understanding of how and why we are where we are, merely reflecting on the past will do little to help the subject move forward. Hence, the principal aim of our research is to explore what a re-designed design and technology could look like. To achieve this, this study draws on different stakeholders’ visions of how they perceive the subject’s future

Ensino/aprendizagem num novo contexto tecnológico: um estudo no âmbito do ensino superior

Today’s students of higher education are considered digital natives. They have a wide array of technologies at their disposal that are used in their day-to-day lives in very different contexts; including recreation, work and academic. This scenario promotes a change of culture by the main actors associated with the Teaching/Learning process. This prompted the development of the present thesis which aims to evaluate the degree of use and acceptance of technologies supporting the Teaching/Learning process in Higher Education Institutions (HEI). The methodology used when conducting this study was based initially on a review of the specialized literature, identifying the three main technological generations supporting the Teaching/Learning process: Learning Management Systems (LMS), Web 2.0 technologies and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Subsequently, the technologies recognized as the most relevant within each of these generations have been the subject of (i) a systematic literature review, (ii) a content analysis elaborated on the platforms/technologies used in international Higher Education Institutions, and (iii) an empirical work conducted at a Portuguese Higher Education Institution. Concerning the latter, an understanding of the behavior of the two main players involved in the Teaching/Learning process (students and teachers) was particularly sought after. Therefore, studies were conducted on (i) the students’ use of the main technologies, (ii) the students’ acceptance of some of these technologies in the context of Teaching/Learning and (iii) the use and acceptance of the technologies by teachers. The results indicated that the Moodle platform is the LMS most used in Higher Education Institutions. In this context, the platform is mostly used as a content repository and a communication channel. As for Web 2.0, Video Sharing, Social Networks and Wikis were proven to be the technologies most used by students and teachers. The results also revealed that the technologies in question are well accepted by both parties, thus showing that their adoption could benefit the Teaching/Learning process in the new technological paradigm. Regarding the MOOCs, few teachers showed knowledge of the concept and no teachers who had created these type of courses were identified. This study resulted in the development of seven scientific works with peer review, being five scientific papers published or submitted to international scientific journals and two chapters published in international books. These scientific works constitute an integral part of this doctoral thesis.Atualmente, os estudantes do ensino superior são considerados nativos digitais, tendo à sua disposição um conjunto abrangente de tecnologias que utilizam no seu dia a dia nos mais diversos contextos, incluindo o de lazer, de trabalho e académico. Este cenário promove uma mudança de cultura por parte dos principais atores associados ao processo de Ensino/Aprendizagem, o que motivou o desenvolvimento da presente tese que tem por objetivo avaliar o grau de utilização e de aceitação das tecnologias de suporte ao processo Ensino/Aprendizagem nas Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES). A metodologia utilizada na condução deste estudo, baseou-se inicialmente numa revisão da literatura especializada, tendo-se identificado as três principais gerações tecnológicas de suporte ao processo Ensino/Aprendizagem, mais especificamente os Learning Management Systems (LSM), as tecnologias Web 2.0 e os Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Seguidamente, as tecnologias reconhecidas como as mais relevantes no âmbito de cada uma destas gerações foram alvo de revisão sistemática da literatura, de análise de conteúdo elaborada sobre as plataformas/tecnologias utilizadas em Instituições de Ensino Superior de referência a nível internacional, e de trabalhos empíricos conduzidos numa Instituição de Ensino Superior Portuguesa. Em particular, no que se refere a estes últimos, procurou-se perceber o comportamento relativo à adoção das tecnologias por parte dos dois principais intervenientes no processo Ensino/Aprendizagem, i.e., estudantes e professores. Desta forma, foram conduzidos estudos acerca (i) da utilização, por parte dos estudantes, das principais tecnologias, (ii) da aceitação, por parte dos estudantes, de algumas dessas tecnologias em contexto Ensino/Aprendizagem e (iii) da utilização e aceitação das tecnologias por parte dos professores. Os resultados apontaram para o facto de a plataforma Moodle representar o LMS mais utilizado no Ensino Superior sendo, no contexto do caso analisado, utilizado maioritariamente como repositório de conteúdos e canal de comunicação. No que se refere à Web 2.0, o Video Sharing, as Redes Sociais e as Wikis revelaram-se como as tecnologias mais utilizadas pelos estudantes e pelos professores. Os resultados revelaram, ainda, que as tecnologias em causa são bem aceites, tanto por parte dos estudantes como dos professores, evidenciando, assim, que a sua adoção poderá beneficiar o processo Ensino/Aprendizagem no paradigma tecnológico. Já no que diz respeito às MOOCs, poucos professores evidenciaram conhecer o conceito, não se tendo identificado professores que tivessem criado este tipo de cursos. Este estudo traduziu-se na elaboração de sete trabalhos científicos com revisão por pares, dos quais cinco artigos publicados/submetidos a revistas científicas internacionais e dois capítulos publicados de livros internacionais, que aqui se apresentam e constituem parte integrante desta tese de doutoramento.Programa Doutoral em Engenharia e Gestão Industria