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ComAI in Education at the first European Conference on Critical EdTech Studies (ECCES)

The first European Conference on Critical EdTech Studies (ECCES) took place at the Zurich University of Teacher Education from June 18 to 20, 2025. The conference is dedicated to the critical examination of educational technologies from an interdisciplinary perspective.

In their presentation “Rethinking Communicative AI in Higher Education through the framework of susceptibility to algorithmic disadvantage”, ComAI member Andreas Breiter and Paola Lopez combined the theoretical framework of hybrid figurations from the research group with the model of “susceptibility to algorithmic disadvantage” (Lopez, 2024). They thus focus on the various relationship constellations: firstly, the vertical relationships between students on the one hand and teachers and universities on the other. Secondly, on the horizontal relationships between students, i.e. the intersectional inequalities that prevail in the student populations. Students who find themselves in a situation in which they are both dependent on a university (the vertical relationship) and in a socially marginalized position (the horizontal relationship) are therefore particularly “susceptible to algorithmic disadvantage”.