Postdoc (m/f/d; E13 TV-L, 100%) in Ethics, Privacy and Fairness in Digital Education

Environments

to be filled in Summer/Fall of 2021. The position is limited to three years.

The application of ML methods in digital education raises significant ethical issues. Adaptive
learning systems promise to be particularly useful for disadvantaged students without adequate
family support and could thus contribute to the reduction of educational inequalities. Modern
machine learning techniques promise a revolution in interactive and personalized education.
However, students who stand to benefit the most are also the least able to advocate for
themselves. Moreover, irresponsible implementation of algorithmic systems threatens to lower
education quality and widen existing inequalities. Accordingly, the Innovation Fund “Machine
Learning in Education” in the Cluster of Excellence “Machine Learning: New Perspectives for
Science” in collaboration with the Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and
Psychology seeks to hire a Postdoc for fundamental research in the ethics and methodology of
machine learning for education.
The postdoc position (E13 TV-L, 100% - 36 Months) is to be filled (ideally) in Summer/Fall of
2021 and will be supervised by Konstantin Genin, Thomas Grote, Benjamin Nagengast and Bob
Williamson. Close collaboration with the other members of the Innovation Fund “Machine
Learning in Education” is expected. The position is funded for 3 years. Compensation is at
minimum €4002/month brutto (€2379 netto) and increases according to experience. Funding for
equipment, travel and other expenses is also available. Possible research areas include but are not
limited to the following:

1. Methodological Issues in the testing of ML algorithms. How do we learn whether

algorithmic interventions are helpful or harmful? If an algorithmic intervention is helpful
on average, how should its benefits be distributed among groups? Should randomized
controlled trials be used to study the effects of algorithmic intervention? If so, how do we
manage issues of privacy, equipoise and informed consent, especially when students may
not be able to opt-out of such trials?

2. Algorithmic Fairness. Algorithmic tutors make frequent and continual inferences about
latent student features: mastery, motivation, attention, etc. These inferences inform what
material is presented and how it is sequenced. Inequalities in algorithmic accuracy could
allow discrimination to infiltrate the learning process. Mathematical trade-offs between
competing algorithmic fairness notions only complicate matters. What are the relevant
notions of fairness in algorithmic tutoring? How should tradeoffs between these notions
be managed?

3. Privacy, Respect and Autonomy. In educational ML, researchers will be able to collect
unprecedentedly fine-grained information about students---up to the motion of their eyes.
That could enable a revolution in personalized learning, but also poses significant threats
to privacy and autonomy. Irresponsible or punitive use of these technologies threatens to
be invasive, arbitrary and incompatible with respect for student autonomy. Is it possible to
use these promising technologies without creating educational dystopias?

The position is, by its nature, extremely interdisciplinary. Therefore, we are open-minded about
the background of potential applicants. Applicants holding a PhD in philosophy (esp.
ethics), statistics, machine learning, social science (e.g. psychology, psychometrics, economics,
political science, sociology), education or allied fields are welcome to apply. The postdoc will be
expected to collaborate with other groups in the “Machine Learning in Education” Innovation
fund on issues of ethics and methodology.

Please upload the usual documents (cover letter; short (1 page) research proposal; academic CV
including list of publications; writing sample and letters, if available) as a single PDF to this
dropbox folder by the deadline of June 30, 2021. Please indicate in the cover letter which of your
publications you would most like us to read and why you believe it is your best work. The group
aims to decide on candidates by the end of the Summer. Questions can be directed to
konstantin.genin@uni-tuebingen.de.

The University aims to increase the proportion of women in research and teaching and therefore
urges suitably qualified women scientists to apply. The “Machine Learning in Education” group
also welcomes applications from other groups underrepresented in philosophy and machine
learning. Qualified international researchers are expressly invited to apply. Equally qualified
applicants with disabilities will be given preference. The employment will be carried out by the
central administration of the University of Tübingen.