Academe Call for Proposals

The Higher Ed Data Juggernaut

Few faculty members have the knowledge—or the time—to consider how information about us and our work is being collected and used. The AAUP’s Academe magazine is soliciting proposals for a special issue on data mining and learning analytics, especially as these phenomena affect faculty governance and workload. What data, exactly, are colleges and universities collecting about students, faculty, and our “performance”? Who are the perceived “stakeholders” for this data mining? How are colleges and universities using data to drive high-level decisions about promotion and hiring (or even firing), enrollment, program creation and dissolution, accreditation, and budget allocations? Exactly how much money are they spending to surveil and monitor faculty, students, and staff? Who owns these data?

We’re especially interested in hearing from AAUP chapter leaders who have filed information requests about university data mining or enterprise software budgets and contracts; faculty and student activists who have fought data collection and surveillance imposed by learning management systems, electronic test proctoring, and other tools; and faculty and staff who have run afoul of intrusive human-resources platforms designed to serve purposes ranging from time-keeping to bias reporting.

Please send queries and proposals to [email protected] by June 15, 2023 (finished articles will be due in October). Academe articles are between 2,000 and 4,000 words, not peer reviewed, and intended for a generalist academic audience. See https://www.aaup.org/reports-and-publications/academe/submissions for additional information.