(GROUP 6) WORKSHEET: Technoethics for Social Justice

Adapted from Krutka, Heath, Willet (2020) ​Critical Technoethical Topics for Technology and Teacher Education

Purpose
“Technologies are not neutral, and neither are the societies to which they are introduced” (Krutka, Heath, & Mason, In press). As
educators working to change unjust structures in schools, we have an obligation to interrogate the technologies we use with our
students. We also have an obligation to interrogate the schools and classrooms to which we introduce these technologies. Finally, we
have an obligation to act. Acting with care to change unjust structures is central to social justice. Fr. Arrupe (1973) argued that “...in
the last analysis, it is the oppressed who must be the principal agents of change. The role of the privileged is to assist them; to
reinforce with pressure from above the pressure exerted from below on the structures that need to be changed.” We can make change
by acting through our pedagogy, through our personal lives, and as a collective to make institutional change.

This worksheet is designed to help you analyze technologies and the societies to which they are introduced, in order to take informed
actions for social justice.

Directions
This worksheet has three parts.
Part I - Technoethcial Analysis
1. Complete the chart using different lenses to analyze a technology in order to consider its potential effects on the unjust
structures of school. Refer to the ​Technoethics for Social Justice Lenses​ ​as needed.
Part II - Inequities in Technology and Society
1. Synthesize your findings to identify inequities in the technology and in society that will complicate a just implementation of
the technology.
2. Conclude the best ways to use (and not use) the technology.
Part III - Informed Action for Social Justice
1. Identify ways that you can make change in your school, your life, and your community, as a result of your conclusions about
the technology.
 Part I - Analyze a Technology

Name of Technology: Class Dojo

Lens Compelling Questions Response to Compelling Questions (Include reasoning and

support)

Environmental Were the raw materials for this ClassDojo is a web-based resource and doesn’t need any raw
Justice technology ethically sourced? materials to produce.
(Rob King)
Depending on the device that is used to access the web site, various
raw materials may be needed in the construction of the said device

This article from the Guardian in 2012 talks about where some of the
materials come from.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/oct/07/lucy-siegle-la
ptop-ipad-mining

This article from ethical consumer talks about which laptops are the
most ethical to buy based on the materials that are used to create it.
https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/technology/shopping-guide/laptops

Is the energy needed to power

the technology ethically
sourced?
 Democratic Does this technology afford or
Justice (Attends constrain democracy and justice
particularly to for all people and groups?
identity. Ie.
racial,
indigenous,
disability, and
gender justice)

Legal Justice Are laws that apply to our use of

this technology just?

Economic Are the ways the developers “Considerable funding investments, as listed on the Crunchbase
Justice profit from this technology website, of $8.5 million in 2013, and $21 million in 2016 provided
ethical? financial support for the company to continue product development
(Rob King) and growth. These significant funding investments are a critical
aspect of ClassDojo’s continued operations and growth, as at the time
of writing they are its sole revenue source due to the company’s
commitment to remain a free technology for teachers’ to download
and use.” (page 39)

“These significant funding investments are a critical aspect of

ClassDojo’s continued operations and growth, as at the time of
writing they are its sole revenue source” (page 39)

Classdojo is a free app for anyone to download and it does not charge
a fee for most of its features. The Classdojo app does not generate a
profit, but the parent company list that there are investors that make
contributions to fund the app. Without knowing who the investors
are and how they make their money, there is no way to know of those
investors are ethical or not.

In 2018 ClassDojo introduced a new feature that has a monthly cost

called “ClassDojo Beyond School”. This feature is described as “the
app will include features that aim to help parents connect with their
children through reflection activities, meditation and mindfulness
exercises, along with a feedback tool that uses digital points to
reward positive habits and behaviors at home.” (Wan, 2018)

“The new parent offering will have several features similar to what
the company currently offers schools. One of the most commonly
used tools is the behavior incentivization system that lets teachers
give or subtract digital points based on a student’s behavior. This
functionality will be available in Beyond School, and parents will
have the ability to set their own criteria in awarding points.” (Wan,
2018)

ClassDojo’s new feature Beyond School plays on the notion that

children behave badly at home and are giving parents a tool to control
their kid’s behavior with a point system. In a way they ClassDojo is
praying on parents who have trouble controlling their kid’s behavior
and has found a new way to bribe good behavior out of their children.

Wan, T. (2018, December 27). ClassDojo Goes 'Beyond School' to

Launch First Monetization Feature for Parents - EdSurge News.
Retrieved May 23, 2020, from
 https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-11-15-classdojo-goes-beyond-s
chool-to-launch-first-monetization-feature-for-parents

Are non-exploitative labor According to Wan (2019) “All this has been done with a headcount
practices used in the design, that has hovered for several years in the 30’s—a modest number,
development, and relative to the $30 million it had raised prior to this round. Expect
manufacturing of the that number to grow to 50 as the company looks to fill product and
technology? engineering roles with this latest cash infusion.”
(Rob King)
ClassDojo has a very small workforce considering that it is a
company that class flow of around $30 million. With there being no
physical product out there on the market, you would think that a
majority of the employees would work on the development and
upkeep of the software and app. According to their website, they are
based out of San Fransico, California, you can assume that they are
not exploiting their workforce.

Wan, T. (2019, February 28). Now With Revenue, ClassDojo Raises

$35 Million to Expand to Homes Across the World - EdSurge News.
Retrieved May 23, 2020, from
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-02-28-now-with-revenue-classd
ojo-raises-35-million-to-expand-to-homes-across-the-world
Technological What are unintended and “ClassDojo requires teachers to monitor students constantly, catching
Justice unobvious problems to which students performing particular behaviours, generating, storing, and
this technology might analysing data through its software as this occurs. This approach,
contribute? promoted on its website, describes the increased surveillance of
(Postman, 1997) students as a way for teachers to achieve behavioural success in the
classroom,” (p. 43).
Is the technology designed
ethically? “Through ClassDojo, student behaviour is displayed in the form of
numerical data which functions as a representation of the student.
Is the technology used ethically? Students become behavioural data points from which decisions can be
made about teaching and learning,” (p. 45)

ClassDojois designed to be a fun and engaging learning app for kids,

but it is almost a behavior management tool. ClassDojo is a way for
teachers to spy on kids and make sure that they are on task. If a student
is off task that data is then given to the teacher and the control their
behavior based on a rewards system, that has no real meaning, but it
has leverage over the student.

On the surface ClassDojo is ethically designed to be fun and engaging

for the students and way for teachers to help monitor the students.
But, in reality it is a behavior management tool the spies on the
students and reports back to the teacher.

It is up to the teacher to decide if they are going to use ClassDojo

ethically. The teacher can either use it as a tool to help keep track of a
student’s progress and then decide the best course of action or the
teacher can use it to penalize students for not being on task.
Pedagogical In what ways does this ClassDojo is designed to help out with behavior and classroom
Justice technology afford and constrain management. If technology is used in the correct manner it can be
learning opportunities? beneficial to the learning opportunities that are in the classroom.
(Rob King) Classdojo can help students stay on task by providing positive
reinforcement for the good behavior. This reinforcement can be a
driving force for the students to want to do better in the class.
Classdojo can also constrain the learning opportunities. If students are
concentrating on getting the reward of points they may not be
concentrating on their performance on their academics.
 Part II - Inequities in Technology and Society

Technological Inequities

What unjust technoethical issues must be addressed in order for a just implementation of this technology?

“ClassDojo requires teachers to monitor students constantly, catching students performing particular behaviours, generating, storing and analysing data
through its software as this occurs. This approach, promoted on its website, describes the increased surveillance of students as a way for teachers to achieve
behavioural success in the classroom,” (p. 43).

“Through ClassDojo, student behaviour is displayed in the form of numerical data which functions as a representation of the student. Students become
behavioural data points from which decisions can be made about teaching and learning,” (p. 45).

ClassDojo’s numerization of behavior allows teachers the ability to represent student behavior in terms of data-points, with the hope of providing greater
student accountability, as well as providing a platform for classroom management. With numerizing behavior and digitizing student discipline, there are some
unintended consequences.

First, it is the definition of behaviors. Within ClassDojo, a teacher or school system is responsible for identifying each behavior, both positive and negative.
However, behaviors are complex and, often times layered, which requires teachers or school systems to constantly be adding behaviors, both positive and
negative. For a behavior that is not listed in ClassDojo, to which category does the teacher apply the behavior?

Second, it is the surveillance of students. ClassDojo shares information with stakeholders: the school, the parents, the student. Nevertheless, to capture an
accurate picture of a student’s behavior, both positively and negative, the teacher would have to be observing a student continuously. This allows the teacher to
capture all behaviors of a student, both positive and negative. The reality of the matter is that teachers do not have the ability to constantly surveillance each
student, meaning that the data from ClassDojo is not necessarily an accurate representation of student behavior. This means that the program does not
adequately and accurately measure that which it was intended to measure.

Third, it is the platform’s design. By using points to game-ify student discipline, ClassDojo attempts to use quantitative measures for qualitative data. Does a
student receive more negative points for hitting a student in the face, as opposed to hitting a student on the arm? Does a student who is absent often have a
better track record than a student who is present often because the absent students’ behavior was not recorded, meaning that they neither gained nor lost
points? This raises the question on whether the system can be hacked so that a student strategically ensures that they have more points gained than lost based
on attendance or timing the observance/surveillance of the teacher.
Social Inequities

What unjust social structures must be addressed in order for a just implementation of this technology?

“The emergence of cultures of performativity in classrooms is linked to the infiltration of new managerialism in education, a mode of governance in which
numbers and rankings are prioritised and framed as objective representations of value, creating an impression that what is of value can simply be counted,”
(p. 46).

“[T]his form of psychologised discipline situates responsibility for behaviour entirely with the student, problematically decontextualising and erasing the
complexities of behaviour, in particular those influenced by structural and contextual components of schooling,” (p. 47).

Technology is a product of its developer and handler; it is a resource and a tool. ClassDojo is not exception, as its data-gathering is solely dependent on the
teacher. Nevertheless, we know that teachers are biased, both explicitly and implicitly. Therefore, ClassDojo can be used to promote bias and injustice.

First, it is the promotion of performance-based culture. To argue that the program, ClassDojo, captures a full picture of student behavior in a classroom is
naive. Even without the program, a student knows how to ​get away with​ poor behavior in a classroom. This amplifies when you are able to attach points and
reporting to the behavior. Suppose a teacher only notices a student when they are misbehaving; assume the same for a student who is noticed only when they
are ​on task​. This means that, in the former case, the student is penalized disproportionately and, in the latter case, the student is rewarded disproportionately.

Second, it is the issue of accountability. We know that zero-tolerance-based policies are dangerous because they ignore extraneous circumstances, allowing for
a lack of consideration for special circumstances. The ClassDojo structure, while it can allow for flexibility, seemingly promotes a black/white classification of
behaviors. While teacher-consideration can be given, that consideration is often tied to the mood of the teacher, the bias within the teacher, and the sentiment
the teacher has towards the behavior or the student.

Because behavior and disciplinary records may be tied to promotion and trajectory, a student can have opportunities lost as a result of the unjust
implementation of ClassDojo for student discipline. There must be some way to counter bias that may be present in the teacher as well as the practices of
surveillance in order to ensure that the program is used in an ethical manner.
Conclusion

Should you/your district use this technology? If so, what is the most just method for implementation?

(Shawn Turner)
It seems that the program would be beneficial in elementary settings, as the teacher is able to be with students for a prolonged period of time, while also not
compromising instruction. I find it that elementary school students are, to some degree, being taught how to ​behave​, especially in grades T3 to grades 3/4 (as
some schools/districts consider grade 5 middle school).

I would be particularly interested in observing this program used for introductory grades in middle school and high school, particularly for grades 5/6 or grade
9. In my school, all ninth grade students take a Theology class. I think that that class course includes some formation components that reward students who
follow school norms, as well as proper classroom etiquette.

If I was using the program, however, I would utilize the program to reward positive behaviors only, in the context of a class discussion or lecture. ClassDojo
would be awesome to show parents when the student is participating (answered a question, came to the board, won a challenge, or earned a 100% on an
assessment). I think that, for negative behaviors, however, the program could become toxic. If the goal is to help redirect a student, penalizing them would
promote avoidance and take away from the conversation component that I believe is necessary with discipline.

Ultimately, I think that ClassDojo is a useful program to provide documentation for student behavior. I personally have a behavior and participation grade in
my classes, so that students are involved in the course, but also aware that, because we are a high school, the learning environment is shared and upheld by
respect for it and the individuals in it. To incorporate ClassDojo in that model, I would have to sit down and craft periods of time when ClassDojo would be
used and make sure that students understand how it is being used. It is important to strike a balance with the program so that students are natural, but also the
picture painted regarding their behavior is accurate.
 Part III - Take Informed Action

As you develop your action plan, consider how you will center the power and wisdom of people who are marginalized and oppressed.
How will you leverage your privilege while still ensuring the oppressed are the principal agents of change? How can you exert
pressure from above and below on the structures that need to be changed?

Please visit our community sourced WIKI - Social Justice Action Ideas for Educators, for inspiration and suggestions.
What informed action will you take to make change in your school, your life, and your community?

Through your pedagogy With your peers In your own, daily, At an institutional level
technology use

What can you do with your
own students to help them
become aware of and
confront injustice in
technology and society?
How can you engage in How can you be more How can you affect change at
consciousness raising with responsible and advocate for an institutional level?
your friends, colleagues, justice in your own daily
and/or family? use?