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Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs. The growth of online learning since the 1990s, particularly in
higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...
, has contributed to the advancement of Learning Analytics as student data can be captured and made available for analysis. When learners use an LMS,
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
, or similar online tools, their clicks, navigation patterns, time on task,
social network A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of Dyad (sociology), dyadic ties, and other Social relation, social interactions between actors. The social network per ...
s,
information flow In discourse-based grammatical theory, information flow is any tracking of referential information by speakers. Information may be ''new,'' i.e., just introduced into the conversation''; given,'' i.e., already active in the speakers' consciousne ...
, and concept development through discussions can be tracked. The rapid development of
massive open online course A massive open online course (MOOC ) or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the World Wide Web, Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and p ...
s (MOOCs) offers additional data for researchers to evaluate teaching and learning in online environments.


Definition

Although a majority of Learning Analytics literature has started to adopt the aforementioned definition, the definition and aims of Learning Analytics are still contested.


Learning analytics as a prediction model

One earlier definition discussed by the community suggested that Learning Analytics is the use of intelligent data, learner-produced data, and analysis models to discover information and social connections for predicting and advising people's learning.Siemens, George. "What Are Learning Analytics?" Elearnspace, August 25, 2010

But this definition has been criticised by George Siemens and Mike Sharkey.


Learning analytics as a generic design framework

Dr. Wolfgang Greller and Dr. Hendrik Drachsler defined learning analytics holistically as a framework. They proposed that it is a generic design framework that can act as a useful guide for setting up analytics services in support of educational practice and learner guidance, in quality assurance, curriculum development, and in improving teacher effectiveness and efficiency. It uses a general morphological analysis (GMA) to divide the domain into six "critical dimensions".


Learning analytics as data-driven decision making

The broader term "
Analytics Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data, which also falls under and directly relates to the umbrella term, data sc ...
" has been defined as the science of examining data to draw conclusions and, when used in
decision-making In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the Cognition, cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be ...
, to present paths or courses of action. From this perspective, Learning Analytics has been defined as a particular case of
Analytics Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data, which also falls under and directly relates to the umbrella term, data sc ...
, in which
decision-making In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the Cognition, cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be ...
aims to improve learning and education. During the 2010s, this definition of analytics has gone further to incorporate elements of
operations research Operations research () (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a branch of applied mathematics that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve management and ...
such as
decision tree A decision tree is a decision support system, decision support recursive partitioning structure that uses a Tree (graph theory), tree-like Causal model, model of decisions and their possible consequences, including probability, chance event ou ...
s and strategy maps to establish predictive models and to determine probabilities for certain courses of action.


Learning analytics as an application of analytics

Another approach for defining Learning Analytics is based on the concept of
Analytics Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data, which also falls under and directly relates to the umbrella term, data sc ...
interpreted as the ''process'' of developing actionable insights through problem definition and the application of
statistical model A statistical model is a mathematical model that embodies a set of statistical assumptions concerning the generation of Sample (statistics), sample data (and similar data from a larger Statistical population, population). A statistical model repre ...
s and analysis against existing and/or simulated future data.Powell, Stephen, and Sheila MacNeill. Institutional Readiness for Analytics A Briefing Paper. CETIS Analytics Series. JISC CETIS, December 2012. . From this point of view, Learning Analytics emerges as a type of
Analytics Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data, which also falls under and directly relates to the umbrella term, data sc ...
(as a ''process''), in which the data, the problem definition and the insights are learning-related. In 2016, a research jointly conducted by the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) -an EDUCAUSE Program- describes six areas of emerging technology that will have had significant impact on
higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...
and creative expression by the end of 2020. As a result of this research, Learning analytics was defined as an educational application of
web analytics Web analytics is the measurement, data collection, collection, analysis, and reporting of web Data (computing), data to understand and optimize web usage. Web analytics is not just a process for measuring web traffic but can be used as a tool for ...
aimed at learner profiling, a process of gathering and analyzing details of individual student interactions in online learning activities.


Learning analytics as an application of data science

In 2017, Gašević, Коvanović, and Joksimović proposed a consolidated model of learning analytics. The model posits that learning analytics is defined at the intersection of three disciplines: data science, theory, and design. Data science offers computational methods and techniques for data collection, pre-processing, analysis, and presentation. Theory is typically drawn from the literature in the learning sciences, education, psychology, sociology, and philosophy. The design dimension of the model includes: learning design, interaction design, and study design. In 2015, Gašević, Dawson, and
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
argued that computational aspects of learning analytics need to be linked with the existing educational research in order for Learning Analytics to deliver its promise to understand and optimize learning.


Learning analytics versus educational data mining

Differentiating the fields of educational data mining (EDM) and learning analytics (LA) has been a concern of several researchers. George Siemens takes the position that educational data mining encompasses both learning analytics and academic analytics,G. Siemens, D. Gasevic, C. Haythornthwaite, S. Dawson, S. B. Shum, R. Ferguson, E. Duval, K. Verbert, and R. S. J. D. Baker. Open Learning Analytics: an integrated & modularized platform. 2011. the former of which is aimed at governments, funding agencies, and administrators instead of learners and faculty. Baepler and Murdoch define academic analytics as an area that "...combines select institutional data, statistical analysis, and predictive modeling to create intelligence upon which learners, instructors, or administrators can change academic behavior". They go on to attempt to disambiguate educational data mining from academic analytics based on whether the process is hypothesis driven or not, though BrooksC. Brooks. A Data-Assisted Approach to Supporting Instructional Interventions in Technology Enhanced Learning Environments. PhD Dissertation. University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada 2012. questions whether this distinction exists in the literature. Brooks instead proposes that a better distinction between the EDM and LA communities is in the roots of where each community originated, with authorship at the EDM community being dominated by researchers coming from intelligent tutoring paradigms, and learning anaytics researchers being more focused on enterprise learning systems (e.g. learning content management systems). Regardless of the differences between the LA and EDM communities, the two areas have significant overlap both in the objectives of investigators as well as in the methods and techniques that are used in the investigation. In the MS program offering in learning analytics at
Teachers College Teachers College, Columbia University (TC) is the graduate school of education affiliated with Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, Teachers College has been a part of Columbia University since ...
, Columbia University, students are taught both EDM and LA methods.


Historical contributions

Learning Analytics, as a field, has multiple disciplinary roots. While the fields of artificial intelligence (AI),
statistical analysis Statistical inference is the process of using data analysis to infer properties of an underlying probability distribution.Upton, G., Cook, I. (2008) ''Oxford Dictionary of Statistics'', OUP. . Inferential statistical analysis infers properties of ...
,
machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of study in artificial intelligence concerned with the development and study of Computational statistics, statistical algorithms that can learn from data and generalise to unseen data, and thus perform Task ( ...
, and
business intelligence Business intelligence (BI) consists of strategies, methodologies, and technologies used by enterprises for data analysis and management of business information. Common functions of BI technologies include Financial reporting, reporting, online an ...
offer an additional narrative, the main historical roots of analytics are the ones directly related to
human interaction In social psychology, an interpersonal relation (or interpersonal relationship) describes a social association, connection, or affiliation between two or more people. It overlaps significantly with the concept of social relations, which are ...
and the education system. More in particular, the history of Learning Analytics is tightly linked to the development of four
Social Sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...
' fields that have converged throughout time. These fields pursued, and still do, four goals: # ''Definition of Learner'', in order to cover the need of defining and understanding a learner. # ''Knowledge trace'', addressing how to trace or map the knowledge that occurs during the learning process. # ''Learning efficiency and
personalization Personalization (broadly known as customization) consists of tailoring a service or product to accommodate specific individuals. It is sometimes tied to groups or segments of individuals. Personalization involves collecting data on individuals, ...
'', which refers to how to make learning more efficient and personal by means of technology. # ''Learner – content comparison'', in order to improve learning by comparing the learner's level of knowledge with the actual content that needs to master.(') A diversity of disciplines and research activities have influenced in these 4 aspects throughout the last decades, contributing to the gradual development of learning analytics. Some of most determinant disciplines are
Social Network Analysis Social network analysis (SNA) is the process of investigating social structures through the use of networks and graph theory. It characterizes networked structures in terms of ''nodes'' (individual actors, people, or things within the network) ...
, User Modelling, Cognitive modelling,
Data Mining Data mining is the process of extracting and finding patterns in massive data sets involving methods at the intersection of machine learning, statistics, and database systems. Data mining is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and ...
and
E-Learning Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning and teaching. When referred to with its abbreviation, "EdTech" ...
. The history of Learning Analytics can be understood by the rise and development of these fields.


Social Network Analysis

Social network analysis (SNA) is the process of investigating social structures through the use of
networks Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...
and
graph theory In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of ''graph (discrete mathematics), graphs'', which are mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects. A graph in this context is made up of ''Vertex (graph ...
. It characterizes networked structures in terms of ''nodes'' (individual actors, people, or things within the network) and the ''ties'', ''edges'', or ''links'' (relationships or interactions) that connect them.
Social network analysis Social network analysis (SNA) is the process of investigating social structures through the use of networks and graph theory. It characterizes networked structures in terms of ''nodes'' (individual actors, people, or things within the network) ...
is prominent in
Sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
, and its development has had a key role in the emergence of Learning Analytics. One of the first examples or attempts to provide a deeper understanding of interactions is by Austrian-American Sociologist
Paul Lazarsfeld Paul Felix Lazarsfeld (February 13, 1901August 30, 1976) was an Austrian-American sociologist and mathematician. The founder of Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research, he exerted influence over the techniques and the organizat ...
. In 1944, Lazarsfeld made the statement of "who talks to whom about what and to what effect". That statement forms what today is still the area of interest or the target within social network analysis, which tries to understand how people are connected and what insights can be derived as a result of their interactions, a core idea of Learning Analytics. Citation analysis American linguist
Eugene Garfield Eugene Eli Garfield (September 16, 1925 – February 26, 2017) was an American linguistics, linguist and businessman, one of the founders of bibliometrics and scientometrics. He helped to create ''Current Contents'', ''Science Citation Index'' ( ...
was an early pioneer in analytics in science. In 1955, Garfield led the first attempt to analyse the structure of science regarding how developments in science can be better understood by tracking the associations (
citation A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose o ...
s) between articles (how they reference one another, the importance of the resources that they include, citation frequency, etc). Through tracking citations, scientists can observe how research is disseminated and validated. This was the basic idea of what eventually became a "''page rank''", which in the early days of
Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
(beginning of the 21st century) was one of the key ways of understanding the structure of a field by looking at page connections and the importance of those connections. The algorithm
PageRank PageRank (PR) is an algorithm used by Google Search to rank web pages in their search engine results. It is named after both the term "web page" and co-founder Larry Page. PageRank is a way of measuring the importance of website pages. Accordin ...
-the first search algorithm used by Google- was based on this principle. American
computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...
Larry Page Lawrence Edward Page (born March 26, 1973) is an American businessman, computer engineer and computer scientist best known for co-founding Google with Sergey Brin. Page was chief executive officer of Google from 1997 until August 2001 when ...
, Google's co-founder, defined PageRank as "''an approximation of the importance''" of a particular resource. Educationally, citation or
link analysis In network theory, link analysis is a data-analysis technique used to evaluate relationships between nodes. Relationships may be identified among various types of nodes, including organizations, people and transactions. Link analysis has been us ...
is important for mapping knowledge domains. The essential idea behind these attempts is the realization that, as data increases, individuals, researchers or business analysts need to understand how to track the underlying patterns behind the data and how to gain insight from them. And this is also a core idea in Learning Analytics. Digitalization of Social network analysis During the early 1970s, pushed by the rapid evolution in technology,
Social network analysis Social network analysis (SNA) is the process of investigating social structures through the use of networks and graph theory. It characterizes networked structures in terms of ''nodes'' (individual actors, people, or things within the network) ...
transitioned into analysis of networks in digital settings. # ''Milgram's 6 degrees experiment''. In 1967, American social psychologist
Stanley Milgram Stanley Milgram (August 15, 1933 – December 20, 1984) was an American social psychologist known for his controversial Milgram experiment, experiments on obedience conducted in the 1960s during his professorship at Yale University, Yale.Blass, T ...
and other researchers examined the average path length for
social network A social network is a social structure consisting of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), networks of Dyad (sociology), dyadic ties, and other Social relation, social interactions between actors. The social network per ...
s of people in the United States, suggesting that human society is a small-world-type network characterized by short path-lengths. # '' Weak ties''. American Sociologist Mark Granovetter's work on the strength of what is known as weak ties; his 1973 article "The Strength of Weak Ties" is one of the most influential and most cited articles in
Social Sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...
. # '' Networked individualism''. Towards the end of the 20th century, Sociologist Barry Wellman's research extensively contributed the theory of
social network analysis Social network analysis (SNA) is the process of investigating social structures through the use of networks and graph theory. It characterizes networked structures in terms of ''nodes'' (individual actors, people, or things within the network) ...
. In particular, Wellman observed and described the rise of " networked individualism" – the transformation from group-based networks to individualized networks. During the first decade of the century, Professor Caroline Haythornthwaite explored the impact of
media type In information and communications technology, a media type, content type or MIME type is a two-part identifier for file formats and content formats. Their purpose is comparable to filename extensions and uniform type identifiers, in that they ide ...
on the development of social ties, observing that
human interaction In social psychology, an interpersonal relation (or interpersonal relationship) describes a social association, connection, or affiliation between two or more people. It overlaps significantly with the concept of social relations, which are ...
s can be analyzed to gain novel insight not from
strong interactions In nuclear physics and particle physics, the strong interaction, also called the strong force or strong nuclear force, is one of the four known fundamental interactions. It confines quarks into protons, neutrons, and other hadron particles, a ...
(i.e. people that are strongly related to the subject) but, rather, from weak ties. This provides Learning Analytics with a central idea: apparently un-related data may hide crucial information. As an example of this phenomenon, an individual looking for a job will have a better chance of finding new information through weak connections rather than strong ones. (') Her research also focused on the way that different types of media can impact the formation of networks. Her work highly contributed to the development of
social network analysis Social network analysis (SNA) is the process of investigating social structures through the use of networks and graph theory. It characterizes networked structures in terms of ''nodes'' (individual actors, people, or things within the network) ...
as a field. Important ideas were inherited by Learning Analytics, such that a range of metrics and approaches can define the importance of a particular node, the value of
information exchange Information exchange or information sharing means that people or other entities pass information from one to another. This could be done electronically or through certain systems. These are terms that can either refer to bidirectional '' inform ...
, the way that clusters are connected to one another, structural gaps that might exist within those networks, etc. The application of social network analysis in digital learning settings has been pioneered by Professor Shane P. Dawson. He has developed a number of software tools, such as Social Networks Adapting Pedagogical Practice (SNAPP) for evaluating the networks that form in earning management systemswhen students engage in forum discussions.


User modelling

The main goal of user modelling is the customization and adaptation of systems to the user's specific needs, especially in their interaction with computing systems. The importance of computers being able to respond individually to into people was starting to be understood in the decade of 1970s. Dr
Elaine Rich Elaine Alice Rich is an American computer scientist, known for her textbooks on artificial intelligence and automata theory and for her research on user modeling. She is retired as a distinguished senior lecturer from the University of Texas at ...
in 1979 predicted that "computers are going to treat their users as individuals with distinct personalities, goals, and so forth". This is a central idea not only educationally but also in general web use activity, in which
personalization Personalization (broadly known as customization) consists of tailoring a service or product to accommodate specific individuals. It is sometimes tied to groups or segments of individuals. Personalization involves collecting data on individuals, ...
is an important goal. User modelling has become important in research in human-computer interactions as it helps researchers to design better systems by understanding how users interact with software. Recognizing unique traits, goals, and motivations of individuals remains an important activity in learning analytics. Personalization and adaptation of learning content is an important present and future direction of learning sciences, and its history within education has contributed to the development of learning analytics.
Hypermedia Hypermedia, an extension of hypertext, is a nonlinear medium of information that includes graphics, audio, video, plain text and hyperlinks. This designation contrasts with the broader term ''multimedia'', which may include non-interactive linear ...
is a nonlinear medium of information that includes graphics, audio, video, plain text and
hyperlink In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference providing direct access to Data (computing), data by a user (computing), user's point and click, clicking or touchscreen, tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to ...
s. The term was first used in a 1965 article written by American Sociologist
Ted Nelson Theodor Holm Nelson (born June 17, 1937) is an American pioneer of information technology, philosopher, and sociologist. He coined the terms ''hypertext'' and ''hypermedia'' in 1963 and published them in 1965. According to his 1997 ''Forbes'' p ...
. Adaptive hypermedia builds on user modelling by increasing personalization of content and interaction. In particular, adaptive hypermedia systems build a model of the goals, preferences and knowledge of each user, in order to adapt to the needs of that user. From the end of the 20th century onwards, the field grew rapidly, mainly due to that the
internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
boosted research into adaptivity and, secondly, the accumulation and consolidation of research experience in the field. In turn, Learning Analytics has been influenced by this strong development.


Education/cognitive modelling

Education/cognitive modelling has been applied to tracing how learners develop knowledge. Since the end of the 1980s and early 1990s, computers have been used in education as learning tools for decades. In 1989, Hugh Burns argued for the adoption and development of intelligent tutor systems that ultimately would pass three levels of "intelligence":
domain knowledge Domain knowledge is knowledge of a specific discipline or field in contrast to general (or domain-independent) knowledge. The term is often used in reference to a more general discipline—for example, in describing a software engineer who has ge ...
, learner knowledge evaluation, and
pedagogical Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...
intervention. During the 21st century, these three levels have remained relevant for researchers and educators. In the decade of 1990s, the academic activity around cognitive models focused on attempting to develop systems that possess a computational model capable of solving the problems that are given to students in the ways students are expected to solve the problems. Cognitive modelling has contributed to the rise in popularity of intelligent or cognitive tutors. Once cognitive processes can be modelled, software (tutors) can be developed to support learners in the learning process. The research base on this field became, eventually, significantly relevant for learning analytics during the 21st century.


Epistemic Frame Theory

While big data analytics has been more and more widely applied in education, Wise and Shaffer addressed the importance of theory-based approach in the analysis. Epistemic Frame Theory conceptualized the "ways of thinking, acting, and being in the world" in a collaborative learning environment. Specifically, the framework is based on the context of
Community of Practice A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly". The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and edu ...
(CoP), which is a group of learners, with common goals, standards and prior knowledge and skills, to solve a complex problem. Due to the essence of CoP, it is important to study the connections between elements (learners, knowledge, concepts, skills and so on). To identify the connections, the co-occurrences of elements in learners' data are identified and analyzed. Shaffer and Ruis pointed out the concept of closing the interpretive loop, by emphasizing the transparency and validation of model, interpretation and the original data. The loop can be closed by a good theoretical sound analytics approaches
Epistemic Network Analysis


Other contributions

In a discussion of the history of analytics, Adam Cooper highlights a number of communities from which learning analytics has drawn techniques, mainly during the first decades of the 21st century, including:Cooper, Adam. A Brief History of Analytics A Briefing Paper. CETIS Analytics Series. JISC CETIS, November 2012
http://publications.cetis.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Analytics-Brief-History-Vol-1-No9.pdf
#
Statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...
, which are a well established means to address hypothesis testing. #
Business intelligence Business intelligence (BI) consists of strategies, methodologies, and technologies used by enterprises for data analysis and management of business information. Common functions of BI technologies include Financial reporting, reporting, online an ...
, which has similarities with learning analytics, although it has historically been targeted at making the production of reports more efficient through enabling data access and summarising performance indicators. #
Web analytics Web analytics is the measurement, data collection, collection, analysis, and reporting of web Data (computing), data to understand and optimize web usage. Web analytics is not just a process for measuring web traffic but can be used as a tool for ...
, tools such as
Google Analytics Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic and also mobile app traffic and events, currently as a platform inside the Google Marketing Platform brand. Google launched the service in N ...
report on web page visits and references to websites, brands and other key terms across the internet. The more "fine grain" of these techniques can be adopted in learning analytics for the exploration of student trajectories through learning resources (courses, materials, etc.). # Operational research, which aims at highlighting design optimisation for maximising objectives through the use of mathematical models and statistical methods. Such techniques are implicated in learning analytics which seek to create models of real world behaviour for practical application. #
Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
methods (combined with
machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of study in artificial intelligence concerned with the development and study of Computational statistics, statistical algorithms that can learn from data and generalise to unseen data, and thus perform Task ( ...
techniques built on
data mining Data mining is the process of extracting and finding patterns in massive data sets involving methods at the intersection of machine learning, statistics, and database systems. Data mining is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and ...
) are capable of detecting patterns in data. In learning analytics such techniques can be used for
intelligent tutoring system An intelligent tutoring system (ITS) is a computer system that imitates human tutors and aims to provide immediate and customized instruction or feedback to learners, usually without requiring intervention from a human teacher. ITSs have the comm ...
s, classification of students in more dynamic ways than simple demographic factors, and resources such as "suggested course" systems modelled on collaborative filtering techniques. #
Information visualization Data and information visualization (data viz/vis or info viz/vis) is the practice of designing and creating Graphics, graphic or visual Representation (arts), representations of a large amount of complex quantitative and qualitative data and i ...
, which is an important step in many analytics for sensemaking around the data provided, and is used across most techniques (including those above).


Learning analytics programs

The first graduate program focused specifically on learning analytics was created by Ryan S. Baker and launched in the Fall 2015 semester at
Teachers College Teachers College, Columbia University (TC) is the graduate school of education affiliated with Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, Teachers College has been a part of Columbia University since ...
,
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
. The program description states that
''"(...)data about learning and learners are being generated today on an unprecedented scale. The fields of learning analytics (LA) and educational data mining (EDM) have emerged with the aim of transforming this data into new insights that can benefit students, teachers, and administrators. As one of world's leading teaching and research institutions in education, psychology, and health, we are proud to offer an innovative graduate curriculum dedicated to improving education through technology and
data analysis Data analysis is the process of inspecting, Data cleansing, cleansing, Data transformation, transforming, and Data modeling, modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making. Da ...
."''

Masters programs are now offered at several other universities as well, including the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Pennsylvania.


Analytic methods

Methods for learning analytics include: * Content analysis, particularly of resources which students create (such as essays). * Discourse analytics, which aims to capture meaningful data on student interactions which (unlike social network analytics) aims to explore the properties of the language used, as opposed to just the network of interactions, or forum-post counts, etc. * Social learning analytics, which is aimed at exploring the role of social interaction in learning, the importance of learning networks, discourse used to sensemake, etc. * Disposition analytics, which seeks to capture data regarding student's dispositions to their own learning, and the relationship of these to their learning.Buckingham Shum, S. and Deakin Crick, R., Learning Dispositions and Transferable Competencies: Pedagogy, Modelling and Learning Analytics. In: Proc. 2nd International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge (Vancouver, 29 Apr-2 May 2012). ACM: New York. pp.92-101. Eprint: http://oro.open.ac.uk/32823 For example, "curious" learners may be more inclined to ask questions, and this data can be captured and analysed for learning analytics. *Epistemic Network Analysis, which is an analytics technique that models the co-occurrence of different concepts and elements in the learning process. For example, the online discourse data can be segmented as turn of talk. By coding students' different behaviors of collaborative learning, we could apply ENA to identify and quantify the co-occurrence of different behaviors for any individual in the group.


Applications

Learning Applications can be and has been applied in a noticeable number of contexts.


General purposes

Analytics have been used for: *
Prediction A prediction (Latin ''præ-'', "before," and ''dictum'', "something said") or forecast is a statement about a future event or about future data. Predictions are often, but not always, based upon experience or knowledge of forecasters. There ...
purposes, for example to identify "at risk" students in terms of drop out or course failure. *
Personalization Personalization (broadly known as customization) consists of tailoring a service or product to accommodate specific individuals. It is sometimes tied to groups or segments of individuals. Personalization involves collecting data on individuals, ...
&
adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...
, to provide students with tailored learning pathways, or assessment materials. * Intervention purposes, providing educators with information to intervene to support students. *
Information visualization Data and information visualization (data viz/vis or info viz/vis) is the practice of designing and creating Graphics, graphic or visual Representation (arts), representations of a large amount of complex quantitative and qualitative data and i ...
, typically in the form of so-called learning dashboards which provide overview learning data through data visualisation tools.


Benefits for stakeholders

There is a broad awareness of analytics across educational institutions for various stakeholders, but that the way learning analytics is defined and implemented may vary, including: # for individual learners to reflect on their achievements and patterns of behaviour in relation to others. Particularly, the following areas can be set out for measuring, monitoring, analyzing and changing to optimize student performance: ## Monitoring individual student performance ## Disaggregating student performance by selected characteristics such as major, year of study, ethnicity, etc. ## Identifying outliers for early intervention ## Predicting potential so that all students achieve optimally ## Preventing attrition from a course or program ## Identifying and developing effective instructional techniques ## Analyzing standard assessment techniques and instruments (i.e. departmental and licensing exams) ## Testing and evaluation of curricula. # as predictors of students requiring extra support and attention; # to help teachers and support staff plan supporting interventions with individuals and groups; # for functional groups such as course teams seeking to improve current courses or develop new curriculum offerings; and # for institutional administrators taking decisions on matters such as marketing and recruitment or efficiency and effectiveness measures. Some motivations and implementations of analytics may come into conflict with others, for example highlighting potential conflict between analytics for individual learners and organisational stakeholders.


Software

Much of the software that is currently used for learning analytics duplicates functionality of web analytics software, but applies it to learner interactions with content. Social network analysis tools are commonly used to map social connections and discussions. Some examples of learning analytics software tools include: * BEESTAR INSIGHT: a real-time system that automatically collects student engagement and attendance, and provides analytics tools and dashboards for students, teachers and management * LOCO-Analyst: a context-aware learning tool for analytics of learning processes taking place in a web-based learning environment * SAM: a Student Activity Monitor intended for personal learning environments * SNAPP: a learning analytics tool that visualizes the network of interactions resulting from discussion forum posts and replies * Solutionpath StREAM: A leading UK based real-time system that leverage predictive models to determine all facets of student engagement using structured and unstructured sources for all institutional roles * Student Success System: a predictive learning analytics tool that predicts student performance and plots learners into risk quadrants based upon engagement and performance predictions, and provides indicators to develop understanding as to why a learner is not on track through visualizations such as the network of interactions resulting from social engagement (e.g. discussion posts and replies), performance on assessments, engagement with content, and other indicators
Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) web tool
An interactive online tool that allow researchers to upload the coded dataset and create the model by specifying units, conversations and codes. Useful functions within the online tool includes mean rotation for comparison between two groups, specifying the sliding window size for connection accumulation, weighed or unweighted models, and parametric and non-parametric statistical testings with suggested write-up and so on. The web tool is stable and open source.


Ethics and privacy

The ethics of data collection, analytics, reporting and accountability has been raised as a potential concern for learning analytics, with concerns raised regarding: * Data ownership * Communications around the scope and role of learning analytics * The necessary role of human feedback and error-correction in learning analytics systems * Data sharing between systems, organisations, and stakeholders * Trust in data clients As Kay, Kom and Oppenheim point out, the range of data is wide, potentially derived from:Kay, David, Naomi Kom, and Charles Oppenheim. Legal, Risk and Ethical Aspects of Analytics in Higher Education. Analytics Series. Accessed January 3, 2013. * Recorded activity: student records, attendance, assignments, researcher information (CRIS) * Systems interactions: VLE, library / repository search, card transactions * Feedback mechanisms: surveys, customer care * External systems that offer reliable identification such as sector and shared services and social networks Thus the legal and ethical situation is challenging and different from country to country, raising implications for: * Variety of data: principles for collection, retention and exploitation * Education mission: underlying issues of learning management, including social and performance engineering * Motivation for development of analytics: mutuality, a combination of corporate, individual and general good * Customer expectation: effective business practice, social data expectations, cultural considerations of a global customer base. * Obligation to act: duty of care arising from knowledge and the consequent challenges of student and employee performance management In some prominent cases like the inBloom disaster, even full functional systems have been shut down due to lack of trust in the data collection by governments, stakeholders and civil rights groups. Since then, the learning analytics community has extensively studied legal conditions in a series of experts workshops on "Ethics & Privacy 4 Learning Analytics" that constitute the use of trusted learning analytics. Drachsler & Greller released an 8-point checklist named DELICATE that is based on the intensive studies in this area to demystify the ethics and privacy discussions around learning analytics. # D-etermination: Decide on the purpose of learning analytics for your institution. # E-xplain: Define the scope of data collection and usage. # L-egitimate: Explain how you operate within the legal frameworks, refer to the essential legislation. # I-nvolve: Talk to stakeholders and give assurances about the data distribution and use. # C-onsent: Seek consent through clear consent questions. # A-nonymise: De-identify individuals as much as possible # T-echnical aspects: Monitor who has access to data, especially in areas with high staff turn-over. # E-xternal partners: Make sure externals provide highest data security standards It shows ways to design and provide privacy conform learning analytics that can benefit all stakeholders. The full DELICATE checklist is publicly available. Privacy management practices of students have shown discrepancies between one's privacy beliefs and one's privacy related actions. Learning analytic systems can have default settings that allow data collection of students if they do not choose to opt-out. Some online education systems such as
edX edX is an American For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit massive open online course provider. It was founded by MIT and Harvard. It is a subsidiary of 2U (company), 2U. History edX was founded in May 2012 by the admi ...
or
Coursera Coursera Inc. () is an American global massive open online course provider. It was founded in 2012 by Stanford University computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. Coursera works with universities and other organizations to offe ...
do not offer a choice to opt-out of data collection. In order for certain learning analytics to function properly, these systems utilize cookies to collect data.


Open learning analytics

In 2012, a systematic overview on learning analytics and its key concepts was provided by Professor Mohamed Chatti and colleagues through a reference model based on four dimensions, namely: * data, environments, context (''what?''), * stakeholders (''who?''), * objectives (''why?''), and * methods (''how?'').Mohamed Amine Chatti, Anna Lea Dyckhoff, Ulrik Schroeder and Hendrik Thüs (2012). A reference model for learning analytics. International Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning (IJTEL), 4(5/6), pp. 318-331.Chatti, M. A., Lukarov, V., Thüs, H., Muslim, A., Yousef, A. M. F., Wahid, U., Greven, C., Chakrabarti, A., Schroeder, U. (2014). Learning Analytics: Challenges and Future Research Directions. eleed, Iss. 10. http://eleed.campussource.de/archive/10/4035 Chatti, Muslim and Schroeder note that the aim of open learning analytics (OLA) is to improve learning effectiveness in lifelong learning environments. The authors refer to OLA as an ongoing analytics process that encompasses diversity at all four dimensions of the learning analytics reference model.


See also

* Student Engagement *
Analytics Analytics is the systematic computational analysis of data or statistics. It is used for the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data, which also falls under and directly relates to the umbrella term, data sc ...
*
Big data Big data primarily refers to data sets that are too large or complex to be dealt with by traditional data processing, data-processing application software, software. Data with many entries (rows) offer greater statistical power, while data with ...
*
Data Mining Data mining is the process of extracting and finding patterns in massive data sets involving methods at the intersection of machine learning, statistics, and database systems. Data mining is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and ...
* Educational data mining *
Educational technology Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning and teaching. When referred to with its abbreviation, "EdTech" ...
*
Machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of study in artificial intelligence concerned with the development and study of Computational statistics, statistical algorithms that can learn from data and generalise to unseen data, and thus perform Task ( ...
*
Pattern recognition Pattern recognition is the task of assigning a class to an observation based on patterns extracted from data. While similar, pattern recognition (PR) is not to be confused with pattern machines (PM) which may possess PR capabilities but their p ...
*
Predictive analytics Predictive analytics encompasses a variety of Statistics, statistical techniques from data mining, Predictive modelling, predictive modeling, and machine learning that analyze current and historical facts to make predictions about future or other ...
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Social network analysis Social network analysis (SNA) is the process of investigating social structures through the use of networks and graph theory. It characterizes networked structures in terms of ''nodes'' (individual actors, people, or things within the network) ...
*
Text analytics Text mining, text data mining (TDM) or text analytics is the process of deriving high-quality information from plain text, text. It involves "the discovery by computer of new, previously unknown information, by automatically extracting information ...
*
Web analytics Web analytics is the measurement, data collection, collection, analysis, and reporting of web Data (computing), data to understand and optimize web usage. Web analytics is not just a process for measuring web traffic but can be used as a tool for ...


Further reading

For general audience introductions, see: * The Educause learning initiative briefing (2011) * The Educause review on learning analytics (2011) * The UNESCO learning analytics policy brief (2012) * The NMC Horizon Report: 2016 Higher Education Edition


References

{{Reflist


External links


Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR)
– a research network for learning analytics
US Department of Education report on Learning Analytics
2012
Learning Analytics Google Group
with discussions from researchers and individuals interested in the topic.
International Conference Learning Analytics & Knowledge

Learning Analytics and Educational Data Mining conferences and people

Next Gen Learning definition

Microsoft Education Analytics
with information on how to use data to support improved educational outcomes.
Educational Data mining

Educause resources on learning analytics

Learning analytics infographic

New Media Consortium (NMC)
Types of analytics Learning Statistics of education Educational technology