HOW DOES DIGITAL SOCIOLOGY INFLUENCE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES IN THE INFORMATION AGE?

Abstract

This article offers a critical review of how digital sociology informs and guides educational practices in the information era. Drawing on specialized literature, we argue that four sociotechnical vectors - platformization, datafication, algorithmization, and pervasive connectivity - reshape curriculum, assessment, teachers’ work, management, and students’ experiences. These processes open opportunities (personalization, formative feedback, networked participation) while creating tensions (surveillance, algorithmic bias, platform dependency, the “tyranny of the measurable”). In conversation with sociocritical approaches, we highlight the centrality of context and cultural/digital capital in pedagogical appropriation, alongside persistent inequalities of access, use, and outcomes. Syntheses on blended learning, social media, and transformative/transdigital models indicate that educational effects hinge on instructional design, explainable data governance, and pedagogical intentionality. We propose an interpretive framework integrating mechanisms (how platforms modulate practices), conditions (infrastructure and literacies), and outcomes (learning, teachers’ work, equity), thus offering principles for policy and institutional decision-making. We conclude that adopting digital sociology lenses - rather than merely “adding technology”- is a prerequisite for learning ecosystems that are fairer, more transparent, and oriented toward well-being.