A social cartography of analytics in education as performative politics

Abstract Data—their collection, analysis and use—have always been part of education, used to inform policy, strategy, operations, resource allocation, and, in the past, teaching and learning. Recently, with the emergence of learning analytics, the collection, measurement, analysis and use of student data have become an increasingly important research focus and practice. With (higher) education having access to more student data, greater variety and nuanced/granularity of data, as well as collecting and using real‐time data, it is crucial to consider the data imaginary in higher education, and, specifically, analytics as performative politics. Data and data analyses are often presented as representing “reality” and, as such, are seminal in institutional “truth‐making,” whether in the context of operational or student learning data. In the broader context of critical data studies (CDS), this social cartography examines and maps the “data frontier” and the “data gaze” within the context of the dominant narrative of evidence‐based management and the data imaginary in higher education. Following an analysis of the main assumptions in evidence‐based management and the power of metrics, this paper presents a social cartography of data analytics not only as representational, but as actant , and as performative politics. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic Student data in higher education are increasingly used not only to inform operational and strategic planning, but to inform and shape curricula, pedagogy and student learning. The collection, measurement, analysis and use of student data are informed by a particular data imaginary in service of evidence‐based management. Data and analytics are seen as objective, neutral representations of reality and used as basis for informing policy, operational planning, resource allocation, and, increasingly, learning analytics and student facing dashboards. What this paper adds Critically examines data analytics in higher education as “truth‐making” and never neutral, and always as provisional snapshots of “reality” serving particular, often undeclared, assumptions and interests. Situates learning analytics as the collection, measurement, analysis and use of student data in the broader context of the data imaginary and student data as “data frontier”. Provides evidence that data analytics is not only representational, but, increasingly, performative and political. Implications for practice and/or policy Makes explicit some of the theoretical, political, epistemological and ontological assumptions underpinning and sustaining the data imaginary in higher education. Foregrounds the need for more critical approaches to our expectations, collections, analyses and use of student data. Argues the need for policy and practitioners to recognise the inherent political and performative nature of data and data analysis, and the need for transparency, accountability and care.