It’s profiling. It’s tracking. It’s surveilling. It’s identifying “students at risk” and students who are “risks.”

Since 2005, US universities have been the victim of almost 550 data breaches involving nearly 13 million known records.

One of the “hot new trends” in education technology is “learning analytics” – this idea that if you collect enough data about students that you can analyze it and in turn algorithmically direct students towards more efficient and productive behaviors, institutions towards more efficient and productive outcomes. Command. Control. Intelligence.