The Soul in the Machine: Digital Humanism and the Ethics of Data-Driven Classrooms
In the contemporary landscape of K-12 education, the classroom has become a primary frontier for the “Big Data” revolution. Under the banner of efficiency and personalization, every keystroke, hesitation, and quiz score is harvested, analyzed, and transformed into a predictive metric. Yet, as we embrace the power of Data-Driven Decision Making (DDDM), we face a profound philosophical crisis. We are at risk of succumbing to technological instrumentalism—the belief that data is a neutral tool that always leads to better outcomes. To counter this, we must advocate for Digital Humanism: a framework that asserts technology must serve human flourishing, agency, and dignity, rather than reducing the “soul” of the student to a mere digital shadow.
The Quantified Student and the Danger of Datafication
The central tension in modern EdTech is the process of datafication—the rendering of complex human social behaviors into quantifiable data. When we view a student …
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