Australian schools are now bursting with digital technologies. Digital platforms are used to enrol students, deliver learning content, and communicate with parents, and there is increasing use of facial recognition technologies and other ‘smart’ devices in classrooms.

This is indicative of the growing digitalisation of schools and society, but it introduces a range of questions and concerns. How can schools inform their community about the technologies that are being used? Can schools and education authorities access the personal information the technologies need to work?

On the one hand schools are responsible for educating students about using digital technologies, but on the other hand they must protect students’ and teachers’ digital privacy. How can schools achieve this balance, while ensuring that parents are not overwhelmed? What information, knowledge and understanding is necessary to achieve informed consent? – especially when data processing is often opaque and hidden from view.

In this panel discussion, we will discuss these competing tensions and ask with increasing demands for digitalisation, is it possible for schools to actually achieve informed consent?

Note: this event is in person and also online. If you select online attendance, you will be sent the webinar link closer to the event date.

Please join us immediately after the seminar for canapes and drinks, and the opportunity to chat to our panellists.

OUR PANELLISTS

Duane Cox, Chief Innovation Officer, Schoolbox

Associate Professor Anna Bunn, Dean of Learning & Teaching (Faculty of Business & Law), Curtin University

Simon Elvery, Parent and Journalist, ABC

Koren Irving, School Leader, St Joseph's College, Geelong

EVENT CONVENER: ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR LUCI PANGRAZIO

Associate Professor Luci Pangrazio is an expert in datafication, young people’s digital and data literacies, and digital cultures. Her role as Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child focusses on the datafication of young children’s technology use – what data are being collected, how it’s being used, and the implications.

Luci’s passion and interest in data is reflected in her extensive research experience and publications. She is currently Chief Investigator on an ARC Discovery Project examining the use of digital data in schools and ways to improve its capture and use. As an Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Fellow, Luci is also working on a project to investigate new ways to understand digital data. Luci recently led a project with the Universidad de ORT (Uruguay) to design an app to develop children’s data literacies. In 2019, Luci’s book on young people’s literacies in the digital age was published by Routledge.

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