Research Summary: Digital solidification: learning analytics, the panopticon, and data coloniality in South African higher education

Learning analytics (LA) in South African higher education, while promising to enhance student support and institutional decision-making, carries significant risks. A critical interpretive synthesis suggests that LA can function as a digital panopticon, converting routine digital activity into "deficit identities" for students, particularly within a context of gross inequality and historical coloniality. This process transforms partial digital traces into durable judgments regarding students' ability, engagement, and future potential.

Why it matters

This analysis highlights the critical need for institutions to scrutinize the ethical and societal implications of technology adoption, particularly in historically unequal environments. It underscores how seemingly beneficial tools like learning analytics can inadvertently perpetuate or exacerbate existing inequalities, impacting human capital development and social mobility.

Key insights

• Learning analytics (LA) is a common feature in modern educational institutions, aiming to improve student support, retention, and decision-making.
• In contexts of high inequality, such as South African higher education, LA risks converting partial digital traces into lasting judgments about students' capabilities.
• The analysis frames LA as a 'digital panopticon,' drawing on Foucault's concepts of visibility, inscription, and normalization.
• LA contributes to 'data colonialism' and 'coloniality of being' by transforming routine platform activity into 'deficit identities'.
• The implications of LA are situated within South Africa's historical context of colonialism and apartheid, amplifying concerns about its impact on educational equity.

Source

Frontiers in Education — https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2026.1942897