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With each new technological development promising to “revolutionize education”, we need to start asking how…and at what cost. Platforms that provide services allegedly for free often do so in exchange for data about its users—forming a deep layer of surveillance over our online lives. Asking students to use online platforms and services raises ethical questions that often get overlooked, or even noticed.

Chris Gilliard joins us to walk us through the concerns he has about the state of online surveillance, the dangers lurking behind the expansion of the Internet of Things, and the caution we should use when inviting—or expecting—students to work online. He explains why we need to pay more attention to the technologies we use, to the technologies we expect students to use, and the kinds of information those technologies extract from us.

Filled with real examples of how technologies used in our lives and our classrooms can erode our autonomy and shape the way we perceive the world around us, this conversation shows how, while we think we’re using our devices and services, those things may end up using us instead. As students use increasingly more services and accounts to conduct their affairs, we’re less likely to know what data is being collected and how that data is being used to lead them to make decisions or take actions.

From digital redlining to racial profiling to round-the-clock surveillance, this episode is packed with stories of things we often take for granted without even realizing we’re doing it.