EDUCATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE & CRITIQUES OF TECHNOCRATIC SOLUTIONISM

At local Rutgers AAUP-AFT union meetings in 2020, union members were eager for more information on questions of EdTech and health tech equity, privacy, surveillance, and data collection and uses given their observations of what were perceived as rights violations, and lack of university transparency. Concerns grew in the pandemic and given our expertise, my co-authors and I embarked on initial fact-finding about contracts, vendor relationships, and other legal and institutional issues around third party data sharing. We initially conceptualized this work with an assumed outcome of pragmatic student- and instructor-driven policy shifts. This work and advocacy has grown into an national AAUP ad hoc committee on AI in the profession that I lead with committee partners from across national AAUP membership and civil society organizations. 

ACADEMIC ARTICLES

OP-EDS

REPORTS

Paris, B., Reynolds, R., McGowan, C. (September, 2021) “Sins of Omission: Critical Informatics Perspectives on Higher Education Learning Analytics”, Journal for the Association for Information Science and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24575

Paris, B., Weinberg, L., and May, E. (22 July, 2025). Fighting Weaponized AI in Higher Education. Academe Magazine Dispatches. https://academeblog.org/2025/07/22/fighting-weaponized-ai-in-higher-education/

McGowan, C., Paris, B., and Reynolds, R. (6 Feb, 2024). Educational Technology and the Entrenchment of “Business as Usual”. Academe Magazine. www.aaup.org/article/educational-technology-and-entrenchment-%E2%80%9Cbusiness-usual%E2%80%9D

Paris, B., Reynolds, R., and McGowan, C. (April 12, 2021). Platforms Like Canvas Play Fast and Loose With Students’ Data. The Nation. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/canvas-surveillance/

Paris, B. (29 April, 2020). Free app to help NJ employees to manage anxiety during the pandemic may not be so free, or good, after all, New Jersey Star Ledger. https://www.nj.com/opinion/2020/04/free-app-to-help-nj-employees-manage-anxiety-during-the-pandemic-may-not-be-so-free-or-good-after-all.html

Paris, B., May, E., Justie, B., Greene, D., Cook, C C., Reynolds, R., Weinberg, L., Jones, K. M. L., Widder, D., Kresge, L., Nguyen, A., Myers-West, S., Kirschenbaum, M., Sargent, S. (22, July, 2025). Artificial Intelligence and Academic Professions. American Association of University Professors (AAUP). https://www.aaup.org/reports-publications/aaup-policies-reports/topical-reports/artificial-intelligence-and-academic

Paris, B., Reynolds, R., McGowan, C. (2020) EdTech in the Pandemic: Audit Report to Rutgers AAUP-AFT. unpublished.