ABSTRACT
This chapter considers a little-discussed aspect of online learning – the surveillance or ‘student tracking’ capabilities of virtual learning environments (VLEs). In, at least, the two main commercially available VLEs – Blackboard and WebCT – sophisticated, powerful, easy-to-use means of collecting data on students’ activities within the learning space are built in as part of its pedagogical functioning. Where such surveillance tools are often promoted, and accepted, as useful ways of evaluating course effectiveness through helping us to understand student usage of the online facility, we wish in this chapter to probe a little deeper and think about some of the broader cultural and pedagogical implications of using these tracking devices.
