Abstract

This paper investigates the intersection of big data and philosophy of education by considering big data's potential for addressing learning via a holistic process of coming-to-know. Learning, in this sense, cannot be reduced to the difference between a pre- and post-test, for example, as it is constituted at least as much by qualities of experience as it is the situation, process of inquiry and its consequences. Long a perennial concern of philosophers of education, the author suggests that big data offers a budding opportunity for philosophers to engage in dialogue with empirical research in order to better understand the process of learning as coming-to know. Drawing on John Dewey's theory of inquiry and his philosophy of experience, the author demonstrates ways that both empirical and philosophical research stand to benefit from cross-dialogue. In offering an unprecedented glimpse of empirical detail, the author proposes that big data stands to afford new insights into this most complex human process, and that Dewey's philosophy offers a vital lens of interpretation that can help philosophers of education to make use of this data in addressing the perennial question of how humans come-to-know.

Citation

Blanken-Webb, J. (2017). Big Data's Call to Philosophers of Education. Philosophical Inquiry in Education, 24(4), 310-322. Retrieved August 9, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/192349/.

This record was imported from ERIC on January 9, 2019. [Original Record]

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Keywords

• Data Analysis
• Data Interpretation
• Educational Philosophy
• Educational Research
• educational technology
• Learning Processes