You Can Find Me in the Cloud: How Digital Platformitization Controls Teaching

• In Event: From Memory to Machine: Rethinking Curriculum in AI-Mediated Education

Abstract

This study examines how digital platforms have reshaped the practice of lesson planning among New York City teachers. Drawing on interviews with 19 educators across a variety of school types, we explored the increasing impact of the integration of cloud-based technologies on teachers’ lesson planning processes. Our findings revealed the ubiquity of such virtual platforms, and how the emergence of platform-based surveillance is changing the role of teaching. Our study situates these experiences within broader theories of platform governance and educational policy, arguing that platformization represents a fundamental shift to how teachers are managed within their day-to-day work. Implications include a call to critically assess the pedagogical and political consequences of digital integration in schools.

Authors

• Anne Shields, Bard High School Early College

• Madhu Narayanan, Florida International University