News

TLA presented at Learning Analytics Learning Network (LALN)

TLA presented at Learning Analytics Learning Network (LALN)

Conference, Workshop
On 4th September 2020 Oliver Herrmann presented the current state of Trusted Learning Analytics (TLA) at a Learning Analytics Learning Network (LALN) workshop. LALN is a worldwide network of LA researchers. The workshop was held as a video conference as part of DELFI, Germany’s leading eLearning research conference. After the presentation, the meaning of “trusted” have been discussed in an international context, that brought new perspectives to be included in further research on TLA.  
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New Pub: Learning Analytics Cookbook – How to Support Learning Processes Through Data Analytics and Visualization

New Pub: Learning Analytics Cookbook – How to Support Learning Processes Through Data Analytics and Visualization

General education, Learning Analytics, Publication
This book offers an introduction and hands-on examples that demonstrate how Learning Analytics (LA) can be used to enhance digital learning, teaching and training at various levels. While the majority of existing literature on the subject focuses on its application at large corporations, this book develops and showcases approaches that bring LA closer to smaller organizations, and to educational institutions that lack sufficient resources to implement a full-fledged LA infrastructure. In closing, the book introduces a set of software tools for data analytics and visualization, and explains how they can be employed in several LA scenarios. Reference: Jaakonmäki, R., vom Brocke, J., Dietze, S., Drachsler, H., Fortenbacher, A., Helbig, R., Kickmeier-Rust, M., Marenzi, I., Fernández, Á.S., Yun, H. (2020). Learning Analytics Cookbook - How to Support Learning Processes Through Data Analytics and Visualization. SpringerBriefs in Business Process Management, XI, 93, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-43377-2,…
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Publication of the Compendium of Gamification Strategies: AR in STEM classes in the EU

Publication of the Compendium of Gamification Strategies: AR in STEM classes in the EU

Project, Publication
The only limit is our imagination: Augmented Reality Technology enters STEM classes in EU As a powerful storytelling tool, immersive media fundamentally change the way we interact with our environment. The EU-funded AR4STEAM project wants to use this potential for new ways of learning in school lessons in natural sciences and arts. With Augmented Reality (AR) we can merge digital dimension with the physical world and create completely new experiences. Reality becomes a creative canvas on which we can provide information in a completely new and exciting way. Artists and scientists have long recognized that immersive technologies appeal to recipients emotionally on a whole new level and create lasting impressions. AR makes the previously impossible a new reality. The only limit? Our imagination! Studies have shown that the use of…
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From students with love: An empirical study on learner goals, self-regulated learning and sense-making of learning analytics in higher education

From students with love: An empirical study on learner goals, self-regulated learning and sense-making of learning analytics in higher education

Empirical Study, Open access, Publication
Unequal stakeholder engagement is a common pitfall of adoption approaches of learning analytics in higher education leading to lower buy-in and flawed tools that fail to meet the needs of their target groups. With each design decision, we make assumptions on how learners will make sense of the visualisations, but we know very little about how students make sense of dashboard and which aspects influence their sense-making. We investigated how learner goals and self-regulated learning (SRL) skills influence dashboard sense-making following a mixed-methods research methodology: a qualitative pre-study followed-up with an extensive quantitative study with 247 university students. We uncovered three latent variables for sense-making: transparency of design, reference frames and support for action. SRL skills are predictors for how relevant students find these constructs. Learner goals have a significant…
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Towards Real-Time Multimodal Feedback with the CPR Tutor

Towards Real-Time Multimodal Feedback with the CPR Tutor

Conference, Empirical Study, Open access
We developed the CPR Tutor, a real-time multimodal feedback system for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training. The CPR Tutor detects mistakes using recurrent neural networks for real-time time-series classification. From a multimodal data stream consisting of kinematic and electromyographic data, the CPR Tutor system automatically detects the chest compressions, which are then classified and assessed according to five performance indicators. Based on this assessment, the CPR Tutor provides audio feedback to correct the most critical mistakes and improve the CPR performance. To test the validity of the CPR Tutor, we first collected the data corpus from 10 experts used for model training. Hence, to test the impact of the feedback functionality, we ran a user study involving 10 participants. The CPR Tutor pushes forward the current state of the art of…
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Das studentische E-Learning-Projekt »StudyCore« verbindet Forschung mit pädagogischer Praxis

Das studentische E-Learning-Projekt »StudyCore« verbindet Forschung mit pädagogischer Praxis

Award, Digitalisation
Es ist toll zu sehen, dass die Studierendenvereinigung - MEGA - (Make eLearning Great Again) - jetzt auch ausserhalb der Goethe Uni erfolgreich das Lernen mit Technologie verbessert!. Am Anfang vieler guter Ideen steht Frust. „90 Minuten Mathevorlesung, 90 Minuten nur Zahlen und Formeln – so lange konnte ich mich einfach nicht konzentrieren“, gibt Onur Karademir seine Erfahrung im ersten Studiensemester Informatik wieder. Also suchte er im Netz nach Vorlesungs-Videos zum Thema, die er immerhin stoppen, zurück- und vorspulen konnte. Häppchenweise ging Verstehen leichter. Diese Erfahrung war der Impuls, noch als Student E-Learning-Formate zu entwickeln, die vom studiumdigitale- Team der Goethe-Universität gefördert wurden. Inzwischen gibt es das EdTech-Start-up StudyCore, in dem Onur Karademir mit sechs weiteren Studierenden ein breites Angebot an Digitalen Lehr- und Lernformen entwickelt und das eine Perspektive…
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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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Tracking Patterns in Self-Regulated Learning Using Students’ Self-Reports and Online Trace Data

Tracking Patterns in Self-Regulated Learning Using Students’ Self-Reports and Online Trace Data

Empirical Study, Open access, Publication
For decades, self-report instruments – which rely heavily on students’ perceptions and beliefs – have been the dominant way of measuring motivation and strategy use. Event-based measures based on online trace data arguably has the potential to remove analytical restrictions of self-report measures. The purpose of this study is therefore to triangulate constructs suggested in theory and measured using self-reported data with revealed online traces of learning behaviour. The results show that online trace data of learning behaviour are complementary to self-reports, as they explained a unique proportion of variance in student academic performance. The results also reveal that self-reports explain more variance in online learning behaviour of prior weeks than variance in learning behaviour in succeeding weeks. Student motivation is, however, to a lesser extent captured with online trace…
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