Learning in a Filtered Universe: Secondary School Students' Experiences With Algorithmic Filtering

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Algorithms of Teaching, Learning, and Oppression: New Research on Social Media

Abstract

To support the development of a media literacy intervention program, this study asks how algorithmic filtering is imagined, experienced and manipulated by secondary education students in the Netherlands. The study makes use of the concepts of algorithmic awareness, imagination and power. Qualitative data was gathered among secondary school students in six exploratory focus group discussions and nine in-depth duo interviews involving 20 students. Results show that students are aware of algorithmic filtering mechanisms, can imagine and express their workings, and dispose of strategies to manipulate them. These results are discussed in terms of how students experience agency over their social media use, but that at the same time, social media designs severely limits them to fully become critical digital citizens.

Authors

• Tjitske de Groot, Utrecht University

• Mariette Haan De, Utrecht University

• Maartje W. van Dijken, Utrecht University