By Paul Prinsloo (University of South Africa) @14prinsp

Sharon Slade (Open University, UK)@SharonSlade

LAK17 Workshop | Simon Fraser University | Vancouver, BC, Canada

|March 13, 2017

Building the learning analytics curriculum: Should we teach (a code of) ethics?

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/maze-blue-futuristic-assembly-1706853/

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The presenters do not own the copyright of any of the images in this presentation. We hereby acknowledge the original copyright and licensing regime of every image and reference used. All the images used in this presentation have been sourced from Google labeled for non-commercial reuse

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Why bother?Learning analytics is a structuring device, not

neutral, informed by current beliefs about what counts as knowledge and learning,

coloured by assumptions about gender/race/class/capital/literacy and in

service of and perpetuating existing or new power relations

Prinsloo, P. 2015, May 28. A brave new worldImage credit: https://pixabay.com/en/structure-beams-engineering-839656/

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/water-drop-liquid-splash-wet-1759703/

(A code of) ethics in learning analytics (should) include…

How we see data, what we see as data, our reasons and processes for collecting data, our analyses, those who do the analyses, how we

verify our analyses, how/why we share the analyses, and whether we have the resources to

ethically respond to identified needs/gaps

• Explore the question of “should we teach (a code of) ethics?” against the background of our beliefs regarding data scientists, data analysis, data and, in particular, student data

• Whose ethics? Whose code? Different approaches/choices

• What difference do we hope that any teaching of (a code of) ethics would make?

• Under what conditions might this actually make a difference?

• (In)conclusions

Overview of the presentation

So what are (some of) our beliefs and assumptions about…

• data scientists• data analysis• data• student data and • Codes of Ethics?

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/audience-concert-music-868074/

Data scientists

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/hacker-attack-mask-internet-1872291/

Web page credit: https://hbr.org/2012/10/data-scientist-the-sexiest-job-of-the-21st-century

Web page credit: https://www.techopedia.com/2/28526/it-business/it-careers/data-scientists-the-new-rock-stars-of-the-tech-world

Web page credit: https://www.wired.com/2002/12/holytech/

“…computation seems almost a theological process. It takes as its fodder the primeval choice between

yes or no, the fundamental state of 1 or 0.”

Web page credit: https://blogs.ischool.utexas.edu/digitalcuration/2012/10/03/data-scientists-or-data-gods/

Web page credit: https://www.wsj.com/articles/academic-researchers-find-lucrative-work-as-big-data-scientists-1407543088

Credit: Retrieved from http://www.oreilly.com/data/free/files/analyzing-the-analyzers.pdf

Harris, H., Murphy, S., & Vaisman, M. (2013). Analyzing the analyzers: An introspective survey of Data Scientists and their work. O'Reilly Media, Inc.".

How do data scientists think about themselves

and their career?

“What skills do you bring to your work? What are your primary areas of expertise?”

Gods, rock stars, game changers or …fallible humans with biases?

They are ‘mere’ humans who “interpret meaning from data in different ways. Data scientists can be shown the same sets of data and reasonably come to different conclusions. Naked and hidden biases in selecting, collecting, structuring and analysing data present serious risks. How we decide to slice and dice data and what elements to emphasise or ignore influences the types and quality of measurements”

Walker, M. A. (2015). The professionalisation of data science. International Journal of Data Science, 1(1), 7-16

Image credit: http://maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com/static/photo/1x/Metal-Fence-Iron-Old-77940.jpg

Data analysis is an “art” (Ibrahim, 2013) and a “black art” (Floridi, 2012). These descriptions

create the impression of data analysis providing access to ‘hidden’ knowledge, not normally

accessible to mere mortals - knowledge that can only be accessed through an interlocutor

Data analysis

With power comes responsibility and accountability

Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bionicteaching/2920562020

Some of our beliefs about data…• Data are neutral• Represents ‘the Truth’ – you can’t argue with data• We talk about data as “raw”, “cooked”, “corrupted”,

“cleaned”, “scraped” “mined” and “processed” (Gitelman & Jackson, 2013)

• Data are self explanatory (Mayer-Schönberger & Cukier, 2013)

• We believe that n=all, and that knowing ‘what’ is happening erases the need to know ‘why’ something is happening

• Big(ger) data are better data• We can distinguish between the signal and the noise (Silver,

2012)

Data are not neutral, raw, objective and pre-analytic but framed “technically, economically, ethically, temporally, spatially and philosophically. Data do not exist independently of the ideas, instruments, practices, contexts and knowledges used to generate, process and analyse them”

(Kitchen, 2014, p. 2)

Contrary to our beliefs...

When a fact is proven false, it stops being accepted as a fact. When data are false, it

remains data…

The relation between data, information, knowledge, evidence and wisdom is more complex and contested than we may be comfortable with…

Data are political in nature – loaded, shaped and limited with the values, interests and assumptions of those who collect, frame and use the data (Selwyn, 2014)

What are the implications for learning analytics as ethical practice when...

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586Apophenia – “seeing patterns

where none actually exist, simply because enormous quantities of data can offer

connections that radiate in all directions”

(boyd & Crawford, 2012, p. 668)

What are the implications for learning analytics as ethical practice when...

Seeing Jesus in toast: Irreverent ideas on some of the claims pertaining to learning analytics (Prinsloo, 2016) – https://opendistanceteachingandlearning.wordpress.com/2015/12/07/seeing-jesus-in-toast-irreverent-ideas-on-some-of-the-claims-pertaining-to-learning-analytics/

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8367Student data as the ‘new black”, as oil, as

a resource to be mined

Image credit: http://fpif.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/great-oil-swindle-peak-oil-world-energy-outlook.jpg

We believe student (digital) data …

• Represent the whole picture• Whose interests are really at stake?• The data belong to us• Students don’t need access, and they

don’t need to know what we collect, the reasons for the collection, how we analyse the data, how long we keep the data, who has access to the data, and who we share the data with….

Whose ethics? Whose values?

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Whose values? It depends…

Neoliberal

CriticalLiberalPrinsloo, P. (2016, October 19). A social cartography of student data: Moving beyond #StudentsAsDataObjects –

https://www.slideshare.net/prinsp/a-social-cartography-of-student-data-moving-beyond-studentsasdataobjects

Teleological• The potential for harm• The scope of consent

and • recourse in cases of

unintended harm are negotiated and agreed upon

Deontological• Basis for legal and

regulatory frameworks • Terms and Conditions• By consent and/or

contract• Works well in stable

environments

Two traditional categories of ethical approaches

(1) a utilitarian approach (deciding on an action that “provides the greatest balance of good over evil”);

(2) a rights approach (referring to basic, universal rights such as the right to privacy, not to be injured);

(3) a fairness or justice approach; (4) the common-good approach (where the welfare of the individual is linked to the welfare of the community); and (5) the virtue approach (based on the aspiration towards certain shared ideals)

An alternative framework

Velasquez, M., Andre, C., Shanks, T.S.J., & Meyer, M.J. (2015, August 1). Thinking ethically. Retrieved from

https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/thinking-ethically/

But…will it make a difference?

What type of ‘ethics’ teaching will make a

difference?Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/empty-abandoned-messy-grunge-scene-863118/

Web page credit: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/whose-ethics.105227/

Ethics in learning analytics: Selected examples 2013-2017

“Ethics are the mirror in which we evaluate ourselves and hold ourselves

accountable” (emphasis added). Holding actors and humans accountable

still works “better than every single other system ever tried” (Brin, 2016)

The way forward: some considerations

So the question is not “should we teach (a code of) ethics as part of a

learning analytics curriculum?” but …

under what conditions might this make a difference?

Image credit: https://pixabay.com/en/stairs-empty-grey-concrete-996638/

THANK YOUPaul Prinsloo (Prof)Research Professor in Open Distance Learning (ODL)College of Economic and Management Sciences, Office number 3-15, Club 1, Hazelwood,P O Box 392Unisa, 0003, Republic of South Africa

T: +27 (0) 12 433 4719 (office)T: +27 (0) 82 3954 113 (mobile)

prinsp@unisa.ac.za Skype: paul.prinsloo59

Personal blog: http://opendistanceteachingandlearning.wordpress.com

Twitter profile: @14prinsp

Sharon Slade (Dr) Senior LecturerFaculty of Business and LawThe Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom

T: +44 (0) 1865 486250

Sharon.slade@open.ac.uk Personal blog:http://odlsharonslade.wordpress.com/ Twitter profile: @SharonSlade