- Posted on 22 Nov 2021
- 1-minute read
Algorithms can decide your marks, your work prospects and your financial security. How do you know they’re fair?
Algorithms are becoming commonplace. They can determine employment prospects, financial security and more. The use of algorithms can be controversial – for example, robodebt, as the Australian government’s flawed online welfare compliance system came to be known.
Algorithms are increasingly being used to make decisions that have a lasting impact on our current and future lives.
Some of the greatest impacts of algorithmic decision-making are in education. If you have anything to do with an Australian school or a university, at some stage an algorithm will make a decision that matters for you.
So what sort of decisions might involve algorithms? Some decisions will involve the next question for school students to answer on a test, such as the online provision of NAPLAN. Some algorithms support human decision-making in universities, such as identifying students at risk of failing a subject. Others take the human out of the loop, like some forms of online exam supervision.
Read the full story in UTS newsroom