A spectrum of surveillance: Charting functions of epistemic inequality across EdTech platforms in the post-COVID-19 era

Covid-19 and the public health policies emerging in response have laid bare a multiplicity of issues related to educational access and knowledge equity on a global scale. Among these, the quick shift to online and hybrid education models led teachers to adapt a plethora of digital platforms to deliver content and sponsor interactions). Such platforms range from institutionally sanctioned (and subscribed) Learning Management Systems (LMSs) to software provided by organizations beyond the institution and can pose a threat to student data and privacy. Data surveillance in educational contexts is not a new issue, nor is it only a strictly digital problem. However, the current milieu of constant and continuing public health crises has led to more frequent, uncritical, and hurried adoption of learning technologies. This article challenges professionals in higher education specifically to take a more critical look at the various EdTech platforms they are, have, and will adopt in the post-COVID-19 era, and the spectrum of surveillance such platforms enact. Through a review of common entities such as LMSs, Google Workspace for Education, and Zoom video conferencing software, this article demonstrates how these technologies place both teachers and students in a relationship to data and learning characterised by "epistemic inequality” or "unequal access to learning imposed by private commercial mechanisms''. By taking a closer look at the problematic surveillance functioning across EdTech, this article makes a case for Commons-based Peer Production communities as equitable, open educational alternatives that have resisted market-based neoliberalism and surveillance capitalism. Practitioner Notes 1. The Covid-19 pandemic led to dramatic increases in Edtech adoption at all levels of education. Such adoption was often hurried and uncritical, furthermore. 2. Both traditional Edtech such as Learning Management Systems (LMSs) and more recent educational and communication platforms introduced by "big tech” actors such as Zoom and Google sponsor unethical surveillance and datafication of students, leading to dehumanizing educational models. However, such surveillance exists on a spectrum and LMSs are much less exploitative than "big tech” projects. 3. Educators at all levels, but especially postsecondary, should practice criticality when adopting and using Edtech, and offer students opportunities to better understand issues related to surveillance, privacy, and data extraction. 4. Educators should consider engaging students in more ethical models of digital and non-digital education platforms and projects, such as those offered by Commons-based Peer Production (CBPP) projects like Wikipedia. © 2023, University of Wollongong. All rights reserved.

Severity of covid-19 disease is related to hyperactivation and altered migratory capacity of t cells

Introduction: COVID-19 is a life-threatening disease leading to bilateral pneumonia and respiratory failure. The underlying reasons why a smaller percentage of patients present with severe pulmonary symptoms whereas the majority is only mildly affected, are to date not well understood. Methods: We analyzed immune cell dynamics in patients with mild (NIH Score 4+5) and severe (NIH Score 1-3) cases of SARS-CoV2 infection. Patients with mild courses presented with COVID-19 specific, mostly respiratory symptoms, however no one required treatment in the ICU, mechanical ventilation nor died due to COVID-19. Patients with a severe course of disease were treated in the ICU department of our hospital, all of them needed supplementary oxygen. Mortality rate of the cohort with severely ill patients was 33%. Results: Given that T cells play a critical role in the elimination of viral infections, we studied this lymphoid compartment in COVID-19 patients. Compared to healthy controls, patients with SARS-CoV2 infection presented increased T cell activation and proliferation and a decline of naive CD8 T-cells. Interestingly, activation markers on T cells were further enhanced in patients with severe courses of COVID-19 disease. Furthermore, the CD8 T-cell compartment in patients with mild COVID-19 exhibited a shift towards terminal differentiation. In contrast, severe cases showed an expansion of effector cells, which correlated with increased cell activation. To determine whether T-cells might be primed for homing to specific tissues during SARS-CoV-2 infection, we checked for particular chemokine receptors in our cohorts. We found the lung homing receptor CCR4 and the proinflammatory receptor CCR5 strongly upregulated on CD8 T-cells in patients with severe COVID-19 infection, mainly characterized by pulmonary failure and requirement of mechanical ventilation, however not in mild COVID-19 disease. Moreover, CD8 T-cells from patients with severe disease exhibited reduced CCR7 expression, pointing towards enhanced attracting to sites of inflammation and limited homing to secondary lymphoid organs. Further analysis revealed a linear relationship between CCR4 expression and CD8 T-cell activation and effector differentiation in patients with severe disease. Conclusion: Taken together, our data support the critical involvement of T cells in the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV2 infection and link clinical severity to T-cell hyperactivation and altered migratory capacity.

Successful treatment of COVID-19 with convalescent plasma in B-cell depleted patients may promote cellular immunity

Introduction: Treatment with convalescent plasma has been shown to be safe in COVID-19 infection, however, there remain conflicting results regarding its efficacy in immunocompetent patients. Nevertheless, neutralizing antibodies are a key requisite in the fight against viral infections. Patients depleted of antibody producing B-cells such as those treated with rituximab e.g. for hematological malignancies lack a fundamental part of their adaptive immunity. Therefore, treatment with convalescent plasma might still be of benefit in this particularly vulnerable cohort. Methods: Peripheral blood samples were taken from three COVID-19 patients, who were B cell-depleted after previous rituximab treatment, during the course of treatment with convalescent plasma. Flow cytometric analysis of activation markers with or without prior in vitro stimulation with SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid antigen revealed antigen-specific T cell responses. Serum levels of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG and IgM antibodies were measured by automated CLIA. RT-PCR was used to monitor viral load in nasopharyngeal swabs. Results: All three patients made a full recovery from infection following convalescent treatment, even though serum antibody levels decline rapidly after each plasma administration. The recovery coincided with an increase in SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood. Conclusions: We demonstrate efficacy of treatment with convalescent plasma in three patients unable to mount an antibody response by themselves and for the first time show that although application of convalescent plasma only leads to short-lived detectable systemic antibody levels, it appears to boost long-lasting specific T-cell responses.