Exploring student control over data privacy through speculative design

Higher education institutions face a number of questions about the data they gather from students and how it will be used in the future. Between commercial incentives for collecting student data and anxieties about the privacy and security of that data, lies the intentional sharing exemplified by the ‘Quantified Self’ movement, when users voluntarily provide information for personal development. Though there are risks to making student data available to third-party service providers, students could benefit from advanced learning analytics that personalise their educational experience. This research paper describes how designers of educational technologies can use ‘speculative design’ as an approach to exploring these possibilities, enabling positive future potentials that enable students to control the data they share.