Teaching Praxis and Digital Platforms: A Study of Teaching Methodologies Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This article aims to present the results of a bibliographic review and examine the effects of the integration of digital platforms in education, considering platformization and its implications for pedagogical practices, with a focus on the concepts of attention economy, student engagement, and challenges for teaching praxis. A content analysis was conducted on 37 academic texts, organized into four categories: (1) Discourses and Commodification of Education; (2) Technologies, Data, and Strategies; (3) Teaching Praxis; and (4) Critical Assessments of Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Platforms in Education. The results reveal the growing influence of market forces and commercial interests, driven by private technological platforms and supported by public policies, while also showing how the attention economy and the capture of behavioral data affect learning processes. At the same time, the use of Big Data to personalize educational trajectories generates tensions. These transformations directly impact teaching praxis, which faces challenges related to the hybridization of education, the incorporation of new practices mediated by technology, and concerns about the colonization of education by platform capitalism. Critical assessments highlight the risks of deepening inequalities, digital colonialism, and behavioral control, pointing to divergences between technical perspectives and social and political approaches. It is concluded that processes of platformization and datafication require a balance between technological innovation and ethical values in order to safeguard the autonomy of educators and students.