This paper will look at the epistemic and ontological underpinnings of the Moodle, and other Virtual Learning platforms; it will reflect upon the dominant pedagogy of constructivism, and' social connectivism', now quite orthodox ideological conceptions of the online subject, which occlude alternative epistemic and subjective understandings, especially those outside of propositional logic and a monolithic model of Socratic dialogue. The author will draw upon many years of experience teaching diverse students how to program computers, as well as years of working with (and against) all of the major online learning platforms.

It is no secret that UK Higher Education policy has moved away from an ideal of social justice, towards an individualised model of 'social mobility', in which the focus is "the capacity for individuals to move up (or down) socio-economic hierarchies, focusing on individual capacities rather than addressing wider societal issues” (Burke and Hayton, 2011). This ideology is often, if not invariably, embedded within the digitally mediated channels deployed by higher education, with a technologically determinist, neo-liberal emphasis on ‘personalised learning’, which reduces to surface features, operating from a priori algorithmic structures, expunged of the ability to enable true shifts in agency between students and ever centralised learning platforms. The paper will deconstruct constructivist platforms, uncovering the epistemic assumptions apparently reified by their digital context, but always present beneath the novel assemblages and, ultimately, surveillant processes, around which students are wrapped. Alternative modes of engagement and intra-action will be outlined, ones in which the legacy of humanism might be critiqued and different power relations conceived.