Imagining personalisation: EdTech and the shift towards
neuroliberal governance
Xiaonan Huang , Hongzhi Yang and Kalervo N. Gulson
ABSTRACT
This paper examines how educational technology (EdTech) companies
construct and promote the concept of personalisation, arguing
personalisation functions less as a pedagogical innovation and more as
neuroliberal governance. Drawing on a sociotechnical imaginaries
approach, the paper analyses promotional materials from EDUtech
Australia 2024 to explore how personalisation is framed, legitimised,
and operationalised in commercial discourse. While personalisation is
often associated with learner autonomy and educational equity, this
analysis reveals its growing alignment with institutional efficiency,
behavioural tracking and optimisation. The paper identifies five
dominant imaginaries, reflecting a neuroliberal logic that privileges
internalise self-governance over pedagogical depth. These imaginaries
produce what we term a ‘hallucination of autonomy’: a paradoxical
experience and understanding of autonomy, where users believe they
are actively shaping teaching, learning and management, despite their
choices appearing to be systematically pre-configured by the platforms
and built into everyday educational practices. The paper concludes by
highlighting the risks of neuroliberal personalisation and calls for
greater scrutiny of how personalised EdTech shape the future of
educational governance.
🟨 New Publication in #LMT 🟪
In this study Huang, Yang & Gulson argue that rather than expanding the authorship of learning, #personalisation supplies an experience of autonomy while configuring behaviour towards efficiency, standardisation, and performance.
Read more (🔓): tinyurl.com/5xr62ssw