Everyday approaches to platform-mediated personalized learning in secondary schools

Abstract

Despite the ubiquity of platforms in schools, few scholars have examined the impact of these platforms on face-to-face classroom practices. Considering the pervasive claim that platforms drive the personalization of learning, our exploratory study analyses how teachers engage platforms in personalized learning settings in Swiss secondary schools. We focus on teachers’ broader pedagogical concepts that inform platform-mediated personalized learning practices. In contrast to techno-enthusiastic claims – and critical scholars’ concerns – that datafication drives learning personalization, teachers in our case studies use platforms in ways that align with their pedagogical values while allowing them to retain control over classroom activities. Thereby, teachers and platforms co-produce ambiguous personalized learning settings involving conflicting conceptions of (self-) governance and autonomy. The findings from this study warn against deducing platform effects from their affordances alone and suggest the need to study the enactment of platforms in situated classroom practices.

Topics & Concepts