Risk Governance of Algorithmic Recommendation in Education for Fostering a Strong Sense of Community for the Chinese Nation: A Conceptual Analysis in Chinese Higher Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71204/e7jng552Keywords:
Algorithmic Recommendation, Educational Visibility Mediation, Risk Governance, National Community Education, Identity-Oriented Education, AI Ethics in EducationAbstract
Algorithmic recommendation increasingly shapes how educational platforms organize learning resources, distribute attention, and mediate students’ encounters with knowledge, values, and cultural narratives. This article offers a conceptual analysis of algorithmic recommendation in education for fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation in Chinese higher education. It develops the concept of educational visibility mediation to explain how recommendation systems shape what educational content becomes visible, what is repeatedly encountered, and how content is interpreted. Unlike general accounts of algorithmic curation or information filtering, this concept foregrounds the pedagogical conditions through which algorithmic systems influence meaning-making and identity formation. The article links three theoretical tensions—personalization versus common identity formation, platform visibility versus educational meaning-making, and data-driven optimization versus value-oriented formation—to five risk dimensions: subjectivity, content diversity, pedagogical mediation, experiential embodiment, and evaluative distortion. It then proposes a governance framework connecting these risks with value-oriented regulation, diversity-sensitive design, teacher-led mediation, student algorithmic literacy, online–offline integration, and multidimensional evaluation. The article contributes to AI-in-education and algorithmic governance debates by showing that recommendation systems should be assessed not only by technical performance, but also by their capacity to sustain educational purpose, cultural breadth, reflective agency, and collective belonging.
References
Areeb, Q. M., Nadeem, M., Sohail, S. S., Imam, R., Doctor, F., Himeur, Y., Hussain, A., & Amira, A. (2023). Filter bubbles in recommender systems: Fact or fallacy—A systematic review. WIREs Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, 13(6), Article e1512.
Ashmore, R. D., Deaux, K., & McLaughlin-Volpe, T. (2004). An organizing framework for collective identity: Articulation and significance of multidimensionality. Psychological Bulletin, 130(1), 80–114.
Baker, R. S., & Hawn, A. (2022). Algorithmic bias in education. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 32, 1052–1092.
Banks, J. A. (2008). Diversity, group identity, and citizenship education in a global age. Educational Researcher, 37(3), 129–139.
Beer, D. (2017). The social power of algorithms. Information, Communication & Society, 20(1), 1–13.
Bozdag, E., & van den Hoven, J. (2015). Breaking the filter bubble: Democracy and design. Ethics and Information Technology, 17, 249–265.
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, & State Council. (2025, January 19). The Education Power Building Plan (2024–2035). The State Council of the People’s Republic of China. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/202501/content_6999914.htm
da Silva, F. L., Slodkowski, B. K., da Silva, K. K. A., & Cazella, S. C. (2023). A systematic literature review on educational recommender systems for teaching and learning: Research trends, limitations and opportunities. Education and Information Technologies, 28, 3289–3328.
Ding, Z., & Cheng, G. (2023). Mechanisms and optimization strategies of intelligent algorithms empowering the fostering of a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. Journal of Ethnology, 14(10), 1–9. (In Chinese)
Dovidio, J. F., Gaertner, S. L., & Saguy, T. (2007). Another view of “we”: Majority and minority group perspectives on a common ingroup identity. European Review of Social Psychology, 18(1), 296–330.
Gorwa, R., Binns, R., & Katzenbach, C. (2020). Algorithmic content moderation: Technical and political challenges in the automation of platform governance. Big Data & Society, 7(1), 1–15.
Helberger, N., Karppinen, K., & D’Acunto, L. (2018). Exposure diversity as a design principle for recommender systems. Information, Communication & Society, 21(2), 191–207.
Holmes, W., Porayska-Pomsta, K., Holstein, K., Sutherland, E., Baker, T., Buckingham Shum, S., Santos, O. C., Rodrigo, M. T., Cukurova, M., Bittencourt, I. I., & Koedinger, K. R. (2022). Ethics of AI in education: Towards a community-wide framework. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 32, 504–526.
Kitchin, R. (2017). Thinking critically about and researching algorithms. Information, Communication & Society, 20(1), 14–29.
Li, Q. (2025). Challenges and optimization mechanisms of teachers’ roles in university education for fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation. Journal of Research on Education for Ethnic Minorities, 36(4), 43–50. (In Chinese)
Milano, S., Taddeo, M., & Floridi, L. (2020). Recommender systems and their ethical challenges. AI & Society, 35, 957–967.
Mittelstadt, B. D., Allo, P., Taddeo, M., Wachter, S., & Floridi, L. (2016). The ethics of algorithms: Mapping the debate. Big Data & Society, 3(2), 1–21.
Ouyang, F., & Jiao, P. (2021). Artificial intelligence in education: The three paradigms. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 2, Article 100020.
Pardo, A., & Siemens, G. (2014). Ethical and privacy principles for learning analytics. British Journal of Educational Technology, 45(3), 438–450.
Ren, J., & Li, Y. (2025). A systems perspective on the pathways for university students to foster a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation: Based on a survey of 696 university students in Tianjin. Journal of Research on Education for Ethnic Minorities, 36(5), 36–45. (In Chinese)
She, S., & Liu, Y. (2026). The significance of education and publicity for fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation for the disciplinary development of ideological and political education. School Party Building and Ideological Education, (7), 4–8. (In Chinese)
Slade, S., & Prinsloo, P. (2013). Learning analytics: Ethical issues and dilemmas. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(10), 1510–1529.
Wen, X., & Sun, J. (2026). Curriculum implementation transformation and construction of learning assessment dimensions for a sense of community for the Chinese nation. Guangxi Ethnic Studies, (1), 31–42. (In Chinese)
Williamson, B., Bayne, S., & Shay, S. (2020). The datafication of teaching in higher education: Critical issues and perspectives. Teaching in Higher Education, 25(4), 351–365.
Yuan, C., & Li, J. (2019). Measurement model for students’ ethnic identity, national identity, and perception of social mobility in China. SAGE Open, 9(2), 1–14.
Zawacki-Richter, O., Marín, V. I., Bond, M., & Gouverneur, F. (2019). Systematic review of research on artificial intelligence applications in higher education: Where are the educators? International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 16, Article 39.
Zhang, X., & Bao, Q. (2025). The mechanism, content, and implementation of integrating education for fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation into curricula. Journal of Southwest Minzu University (Humanities and Social Sciences), 46(10), 11–21. (In Chinese)
Zhang, Y., & Fagan, C. (2016). Examining the role of ideological and political education on university students’ civic perceptions and civic participation in mainland China: Some hints from contemporary citizenship theory. Citizenship, Social and Economics Education, 15(2), 117–142.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Guangming Gao (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All articles published in this journal are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited. Authors retain copyright of their work, and readers are free to copy, share, adapt, and build upon the material for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as appropriate attribution is given.
