“We’re being tracked at all times”: Student perspectives of their privacy in relation to learning analytics in higher education

Higher education institutions are continuing to develop their capacity for learning analytics (LA), which is a sociotechnical data mining and analytic practice. Institutions rarely inform their students about LA practices and there exist significant privacy concerns. Without a clear student voice in the design of LA, institutions put themselves in an ethical grey area. To help fill this gap in practice and add to the growing literature on students’ privacy perspectives, this study reports findings from over 100 interviews with undergraduate students at eight United States highereducation institutions. Findings demonstrate that students lacked awareness of educational data mining and analytic practices, as well as the data on which they rely. Students see potential in LA, but they presented nuanced arguments about when and with whom data should be shared; they also expressed why informed consent was valuable and necessary. The study uncovered perspectives on institutional trust that were heretofore unknown, as well as what actions might violate that trust. Institutions must balance their desire to implement LA with their obligation to educate students about their analytic practices and treat them as partners in the design of analytic strategies reliant on student data in order to protect their intellectual privacy

Identifying an educational response to the prevent policy: student perspectives on learning about terrorism, extremism and radicalisation

School responses to the Prevent agenda have tended to focus primarily on ‘safeguarding’ approaches, which essentially perceive some young people as being ‘at risk’ and potentially as presenting a risk to others. In this article we consider evidence from secondary school students who experienced a curriculum project on terrorism, extremism and radicalisation. We argue that a curriculum response which addresses the acquisition of knowledge can build students’ critical capacity for engagement with radicalisation through enhanced political literacy and media literacy. We further argue this represents a genuinely educational response to Prevent, as opposed to a more restrictive securitised approach

It Takes a Village: The Role of Counselling Psychology in Advancing Health and Wellness in a Faculty of Education

Counselling psychology departments have historically been situated within Faculties of Education rather than Departments of Psychology. These placements within Faculties of Education have often led to confusion as to what the role of counselling psychology is, and how it relates to education. In this paper, we argue that there is an opportunity for counselling psychologists to impact and be impacted by their location in Faculties of Education. This paper offers an exemplar of how a counselling psychology department informed and impacted a culture of wellness within a Faculty of Education and also within the greater university culture, at the University of Calgary. Through partnership with other faculties and community partners, the efforts of counselling psychology began to impact other systems, which in turn influenced Bachelor of Education teacher preparation at the post-secondary level. Through collaboration with multiple partners and with the support of the Faculty of Education, a mandatory course on health and wellness was introduced to the Bachelor of Education curriculum. Perspectives of a counselling psychologist, faculty of education administrator, a community partner, and former counselling psychology graduate student are highlighted in this paper, with the intention of demonstrating how collaborations between two seemingly distinct disciplines can be mutually beneficial to the university, students, faculty, and also the greater community