This article examines digital data use within three Australian secondary schools, drawing on in-depth interviews with 50 school staff to explore tensions between: (i) established logics of "data-driven" schooling; and (ii) emerging "datafied" practices associated with digital systems, platforms and devices. Using sociological…

This paper explores the ways in which students perceive digital technology as being helpful and/or useful to their schooling. Drawing upon survey data from students (n=1174) across three Australian high schools, the paper highlights seventeen distinct digital 'benefits' in domains such as information seeking, writing and composition, accessing…

This paper considers how facial recognition technology is coming to find a place in contemporary schooling. Drawing on the 'script analysis' approach from the field of Science and Technology Studies, the paper examines the development of a facial recognition-based classroom recognition system by an Australian start-up company -- 'AutoRoll'.…

This paper explores the significance of schools' data infrastructures as a site of institutional power and (re)configuration. Using 'infrastructure studies' as a theoretical framework and drawing on in-depth studies of three contrasting Australian secondary schools, the paper takes a holistic look at schools' data infrastructures. In contrast to…

The use of digital technologies within schools is leading to the increased generation, processing and circulation of data relating to students. To date, academic research around this 'datafication' of schools and schooling has tended to focus on institutional issues of governance and commercialisation, with relatively little consideration of…

This paper explores the ways in which digital technologies are now implicated in the work--and specifically the labour--of school teachers. Drawing upon qualitative studies in two Australian high schools, the paper examines the variety of ways in which teachers' work is now enacted and experienced along digital lines. In particular, the paper…

The past decade has seen the expansion of personal digital technologies into schools. With many students and teachers now possessing smartphones, tablets, and laptops, schools are initiating one-to-one and "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) policies aiming to make use of these "personal devices" in classrooms. While often discussed…

Digital technologies are now an integral aspect of the university student experience. As such, academic research has understandably focused on the potential of various digital technologies to enable, extend and even "enhance" student learning. This paper offers an alternate perspective on these issues by exploring students' actual…

Educational governance is commonly predicated around the generation, collation and processing of data through digital technologies. Drawing upon an empirical study of two Australian secondary schools, this paper explores the different forms of data-based governance that are being enacted by school leaders, managers, administrators and teachers.…

Digital technologies are now an integral feature of university study. As such, academic research has tended to concentrate on the potential of digital technologies to support, extend and even "enhance" student learning. This paper, in contrast, explores the rather more messy realities of students' engagements with digital technology. In…

This article addresses the deliberately speculative question of 'What might the school of 2030 be like?', with a specific focus on the influences of digital technologies. The article adopts the methodological approach of 'social science fiction' to explore the ways in which digital technologies might be used in one Australian high school in 2030…

This article explores the digital technologies that taught postgraduate students engage with during their studies, what these technologies are used for and how useful they are perceived to be. The article draws upon data gathered from a survey of 253 masters and postgraduate diploma/certificate students across two universities in Australia.…

The ongoing 'datafication' of contemporary society has a number of implications for schools and schooling. One is the increasing calls for schools to help develop young people's understandings about the role that digital data now plays in their everyday lives -- especially in terms of the 'data economy' and 'surveillance capitalism'. Reporting on…

The much-discussed potential of "technology-enhanced learning" is not always apparent in the day-to-day use of digital technology throughout higher education. Against this background, the present paper considers the digital devices and resources that students engage most frequently with during their university studies, what these…

While digital technology is an integral feature of contemporary education, schools are often presumed to constrain and compromise students' uses of technology. This paper investigates students' experiences of school as a context for digital technology use. Drawing upon survey data from three Australian secondary schools (n = 1174), this paper…