Alexandros Zakkas | Teaching Machines, Managed Learning and Automated Examination
Alexandros Zakkas | Teaching Machines, Managed Learning and Automated Examination | University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis | 1st supervisor: prof. dr Geert Lovink, University of Amsterdam | 2nd supervisor: dr Chris Detweiler, The Hague University of Applied Sciences | September 2024 – May 2029
From virtual classrooms to remote examinations, AI tutors, and automated feedback systems, educational environments are increasingly saturated with digital technologies. These tools not only shape teaching and learning practices but are actively involved in the re-infrastructuring of education as a civic institution (Williamson, 2024). Responding to calls from Critical Studies in Higher Education for closer scrutiny of how these technologies function and what they (re)produce (Decuypere, Grimaldi, & Landri, 2021), this research project approaches educational technologies as both pedagogical imaginaries and sites of techno-social contestation. It draws on perspectives from Science and Technology Studies (STS), Critical Technical Practice, and Design Studies to develop methods for evaluating ongoing transformations that are both reflective and future-oriented. The project involves: (1) tracing the genealogies of educational technologies to surface the pedagogical ideas embedded within them; (2) conducting case studies that assess digital tools and infrastructures from the perspective of those most affected—teachers and students; and (3) experimenting with alternatives through classroom-based interventions using Critical and Speculative Design, reimagining what technology and pedagogy could become.
