Learning analytics in European higher education–trends and barriers

Learning analytics in European higher education–trends and barriers

Empirical Study, Publication
Learning analytics (LA) as a research field has grown rapidly over the last decade. However, adoption of LA is mostly found to be small in scale and isolated at the instructor level. This paper presents an exploratory study on institutional approaches to LA in European higher education and discusses prominent challenges that impede LA from reaching its potential. Based on a series of consultations with senior managers from 83 different higher education institutions in 24 European countries, we observe that LA is primarily perceived as a tool to enhance teaching and institutional management. As a result, teaching and support staff are found to be the main users of LA and the target audience of training support. In contrast, there is little evidence of active engagement with students or using LA…
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Towards Computational Psychometrics by Combining Psychometrics with Learning Analytics

Towards Computational Psychometrics by Combining Psychometrics with Learning Analytics

Publication
From a psychometric point of view, assessment means to infer what a learner knows and can do in the real world from limited evidence observed in a standardized testing situation. From a learning analytics perspective assessment means to observe real behavior in digital learning environments to conclude the learner status with the intent to positively influence the learning process. Although psychometrics and learning analytics share similar goals, for instance, formative assessment, while applying different methods and theories, the two disciplines are so far highly separated. This chapter aims at paving the way for an advanced understanding of assessment by comparing and integrating the learning analytics and the psychometric approach of assessment. We will discuss means to show this new way of assessment of educational concepts such as (meta-) cognition, motivation,…
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Which Strategies are Used in the Design of Technical LA Infrastructure? A Qualitative Interview Study

Which Strategies are Used in the Design of Technical LA Infrastructure? A Qualitative Interview Study

Award, Conference, Publication
At the end of April the EDUCON2020 – IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference took place. The Educational Technologies team managed to contribute with a full research paper and a short paper. The full research by George Ciordas-Hertel has the title: "Which Strategies are Used in the Design of Technical LA Infrastructure?: A Qualitative Interview Study". This paper was awarded as best paper the area "Infrastructure and Technologies for Engineering Education". Here an abstract of the paper: In order to obtain a holistic perspective on learning, technical infrastructure at an institutional level can be advantageous for Learning Analytics (LA). If personal data is collected and processed in such infrastructure, legal requirements are of crucial importance. Recent studies have examined various aspects of LA infrastructure, such as ethical trade-offs and stakeholder needs.…
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