2. Governance by technology infrastructures

With this unprecedented disruption comes an opportunity. In a short space of time many universities and colleges have significantly developed the digital teaching and learning options they offer students. It is critical that we build on this progress – identifying what has worked well in recent months, what methods could be enhanced further, and identifying longterm opportunities for innovation that will benefit generations of students into the future.149

This call for evidence highlights how the turn to edtech during the pandemic has been exploited politically as a disruptive opportunity for long-term innovation, and the normalisation of emergency measures - characteristic of ‘disaster techno-capitalism’ (Taylor et al, 2020) - as a model for reimagining the future of higher education.

2. Governance by technology infrastructures

Governance processes in HE are becoming more technology-centred. Of course, the use of technological infrastructures in HE is not a new phenomenon. Blackboard and Canvas, for example, have long been used to manage student learning (Kasim and Khalid, 2016). Similarly, there has been remarkable growth in OPMs over recent years given they allow universities to upscale their online offerings (Williamson, 2020). However, during COVID-19 we have seen an intensification and a broader penetration of technology infrastructures into HE systems, as new kinds of ‘instruments of pandemic governance’ (Yeung, 2020) and as programmed pedagogic environments that set the parameters for teaching and learning. For example, there has been a huge growth in the use of learning management systems. These are no longer considered ‘peripheral’ tools (e.g. to store course content), but have become central to the delivery of courses. The rapid upscaling of learning management systems with third party integrations that allowed seamless recording of content, assessment of students and online meetings were essential for many HE institutions to provide continuity of learning. Indeed, cloud solutions like Alibaba are providing HE institutions a way to continue to deliver their programmes across internationally dispersed networks. However, it is important to note the constraints as well as the positive affordances of such technical systems for how teaching and learning are practised. Colleges and universities have been transformed into

149 Office for Students. 2020, 3 September. ‘Digital poverty’ risks leaving students behind. Office for Students news, blog and events: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/news-blog-and-events/press-and-media/digital-poverty-risks-leaving-studentsbehind/