Four Surveillance Technologies Creating Challenges for Education

Abstract“Ubiquitous AI”—embodied in cloud computing web services, coupled with sensors in phones and the physical world—is becoming infrastructural to cultural practices. It creates a surveillance society. We review the capabilities of four core surveillance technologies, all making headway into universities and PreK-12 schools: (1) location tracking, (2) facial identification, (3) automated speech recognition, and (4) social media mining. We pose primary issues educational research should investigate on cultural practices with these technologies. We interweave three priority themes: (1) how these technologies are shaping human development and learning; (2) current algorithmic biases and access inequities; and (3) the need for learners’ critical consciousness concerning their data privacy. We close with calls to action—research, policy and law, and practice.