On the 13th of September, as part of the EC-TEL22 conference, EduTec team member Ioana Jivet co-hosted the third edition of the Culturally Aware Learning Analytics (CARLA) Workshop together with Olga Viberg from KTH Stockholm and Maren Scheffel from Ruhr University Bochum.

Learning analytics (LA) have been implemented in various countries, often at a limited scale. We have also seen that LA have been used in different ways in different countries. This makes the transfer of LA solutions from one country to another challenging, due to varying contextual, technical, and cultural factors. Also, the idea that a ‘one size fits all’ paradigm does not lead to effective LA tool designs and implementation has become accepted within both TEL and LA communities. Yet, there is still a big question about what factors define the ‘right size’. Through this workshop, we will explore whether the learners’ cultural values are some of these factors. In an increasingly international educational landscape, how and to what extent should the LA community take into account such factors in order to make a relevant impact (i.e., improve learning) at scale? What opportunities are offered by LA technologies to consider learners’ cultural preferences and values, and how can we design culturally aware LA services which account for these values?

The main aim of the workshop was to raise awareness of possible effects of stakeholders’ cultural values and preferences on: i) learning and teaching practices, ii) the design of LA tools, and iii) the acceptance of LA services and related privacy concerns.