Towards a governance roadmap for educational technology in Australian schools

<p dir="ltr">Internationally, there has been increasing interest in the governance of educational technology (EdTech) in schools. While other nation states have legislative frameworks that address privacy and related concerns (often referred to as ‘hard’ regulation), Australia has largely depended on ‘soft’ regulation in the form of policy and guidelines to govern EdTech. With thousands of EdTech products and services already being used in Australian schools, there is a need for all stakeholders to better understand the privacy and related risks associated with EdTech to sharpen our collective focus on governance in the context of emerging legislative progress. Bringing together research from the fields of education and computer and data sciences, this article contributes an extensive interdisciplinary analysis of EdTech data practices and the risks to students and their families associated with these practices. Moreover, the article provides a comprehensive mapping of how EdTech is governed in Australia, setting this against international regulatory approaches. The article concludes with a new initial road map to progress transparent and accountable governance of EdTech in Australian schooling.</p>