Divya Singh

This study examined how and why extension workers shared farming videos with farmers, revealing divergent appropriation patterns and their implications for digitization in agriculture. 294 extension workers in Bihar (India) were asked to circulate three wheat agronomy videos with farmers. Extension workers’ circulation of these videos was observed using link tracking, phone surveys, and follow-up interviews. Results were analyzed using a novel analytic framework based in affordance theory. Extension workers varied widely in how much, how, and why they shared the farming videos. This variation was underpinned by extension workers’ differing incentives and goals. In other words, extension workers heterogeneously appropriated—rather than homogeneously deployed—the practice of sharing farming videos. Some but not all of these appropriations were desirable from the perspective of service managers. For theory, extension workers’ appropriations of farming videos demonstrate that prevalent conceptualizations of digital agricultural technologies do not account for the adaptation of these technologies by farmers and other actors in agricultural innovation systems. For digital agriculture evaluators, the findings caution against the prevalent focus on averaging effects of interventions and highlight the need to examine the variability of these effects within and across interventions. For extension service managers, the findings emphasize the importance of engaging extension actors with farmer-aligned incentives and goals. This study was limited in focusing on the video-sharing behaviors of human extension actors and not on algorithmic extension actors, like YouTube or farming advisory chatbots powered by large language models. However, the findings have implications for both: just as human actors variably appropriate digital tools, algorithmic extension actors also embed implicit goals that shape how agricultural information circulates. Future research should examine the goals and behaviors of these algorithmic actors that have increasing influence in agricultural innovation systems.

Recent advancements in socially assistive robotics (SAR) have shown a significant potential of using social robotics to achieve increasing cognitive and affective outcomes in education. However, the deployments of SAR technologies also bring ethical challenges in tandem, to the fore, especially in under-resourced contexts. While previous research has highlighted various ethical challenges that arise in SAR deployment in real-world settings, most of the research has been centered in resource-rich contexts, mainly in developed countries in the ‘Global North,’ and the work specifically in the educational setting is limited. This research aims to evaluate and reflect upon the potential ethical and pedagogical challenges of deploying a social robot in an under-resourced context. We base our findings on a 5-week in-the-wild user study conducted with 12 kindergarten students at an under-resourced community school in New Delhi, India. We used interaction analysis with the context of learning, education, and ethics to analyze the user study through video recordings. Our findings highlighted four primary ethical considerations that should be taken into account while deploying social robotics technologies in educational settings; (1) language and accent as barriers in pedagogy, (2) effect of malfunctioning, (un)intended harms, (3) trust and deception, and (4) ecological viability of innovation. Overall, our paper argues for assessing the ethical and pedagogical constraints and bridging the gap between non-existent literature from such a context to evaluate better the potential use of such technologies in under-resourced contexts.

Academic digital competence in this age of technology is one of the most important considerations for higher education institutions globally. Overall, as higher education institutions increasingly pivot to online learning, academics must keep up with the new trends and developments as new tools and systems reshape their classroom. However, a critical challenge emerging in the literature is the limited support provided to academics to make this transition. This paper canvases the ethical responsibility of higher education institutions to ensure that staff are adequately trained where online teaching is the approved model for learning.

Higher education has undergone a significant transformation from its historic character as a community of scholars. As higher education institutions are being called upon to present a more business-like complex, a growing executive management style built on a foundation of governance and deeper accountability has taken root. The effect is the introduction and implementation of practices that conflict with the traditional values of the university, accompanied by concomitant resistance to managerialism and the bureaucratization of the academic project. The article examines six governance frameworks and identifies five key drivers of governance: leadership and direction, strategy and performance, accountability, ethical culture, and stakeholder relationships, as well as a sixth lever: monitoring, evaluation, and improvement.

The adaptation of the curriculum to incorporate cutting-edge technologies and human ethical values necessitates a careful, deliberate approach. A technological transition, pivotal for the future of education, is fraught with challenges but also with real chances for better human self-understanding. To appropriately understand the complexities and significance of this digital shift, Stadio Higher Education conducted a survey (STADIO SV Survey) to capture the voices of students on technology relevant to their social, learning, and teaching environments. After consolidating fundamental points as the methodology and the reliability of the survey, we proposed a descriptive analysis and a substantial study of the findings provided. Literature review and discussion of such important concepts as: choice of the technology, the nature of access, the computing skills needed, communication, contact and successful engagement permit, in a nutshell, the articulation of some very useful closing recommendations.