Effective usage of learning analytics: what do practitioners want and where should distance learning institutions be going?

ABSTRACT

The implementation of learning analytics may empower distance learning institutions to provide real-time feedback to students and teachers. Given the leading role of the Open University UK (OU) in research and application of learning analytics, this study aims to share the lessons learned from the experiences of 42 participants from a range of faculty, academic and professional positions, and expertise with learning analytics. Furthermore, we explored where distance learning institutions should be going next in terms of learning analytics adoption. The findings from the Learning Analytics User Stories (LAUS) workshop indicated four key areas where more work is needed: communication, personalisation, integrated design, and development of an evidence-base. The workshop outputs signalled the aspiration for an integrated analytics system transcending the entire student experience, from initial student inquiry right through to qualification completion and into life-long learning. We hope that our study will spark discussion on whether (or not) distance learning institutions should pursue the dream of an integrated, personalised, and evidence-based learning analytics system that clearly communicates useful feedback to staff and students, or whether this will become an Orwellian nightmare.

KEYWORDS:

• learning analytics
• distance education
• case-study
• professional development

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all participants in our LAUS workshop. Their continued support is greatly acknowledged. The first author acknowledges the support from the IDEAS project, which is funded by the Newton Grant and supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number: ES/P002161/1]; and the National Research Foundation [grant number: UTSA160329161196].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The OU initiated a £2 Million Student Experience Project in 2014 to explore the affordances and limitations of learning analytics (Rienties et al., 2016).

2. Since 2011 six of the top 20 most cited articles in Google Scholar on learning analytics originated from the OU, and the OU ranks number 1 in the world in terms of the total amount of articles published in WebofScience (n = 42 out of 1.136 records).

3. The Consensus Workshop methodology forms part of a collection of techniques – Group Facilitation Methods (GFM) – that can be accessed through the Institute of Cultural Affairs UK (ICA:UK), a non-profit company specialising in training facilitators both in the UK and overseas. (https://www.ica-uk.org.uk/).

4. Three (7%) senior academic managers (i.e., associate dean, director), three professors, two senior lecturers, one lecturer, one post-doc, and one PhD student.

5. Four (10%) directors, four heads of unit, 17 (41%) senior managers (e.g., head of student success, senior instructional designer, programme manager) four project or programme managers.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [ES/P002161/1].

Notes on contributors

Rienties Bart

Dr Rienties Bart is Professor of Learning Analytics at The Open University, UK. His research interests include learning analytics, collaborative learning environments and the role of social interaction in learning.

Tom Olney

Tom Olney is Senior Learning and Teaching Manager in the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at The Open University, UK, with specific responsibility for the adoption and development of learning design and learning analytics principles in STEM course creation. His work also includes project managing various initiatives to support the Associate Dean, Student Experience in improving the experience of STEM students.

Mark Nichols

Dr Mark Nichols is Executive Director Learning Design & Development at the Open Polytechnic, New Zealand. Mark is responsible for a team of TEL professionals innovating, serving and transforming online and distance education. Previously, he was Director of Technology Enhanced Learning at The Open University, UK.

Christothea Herodotou

Dr Christothea Herodotou is a Lecturer at The Open University, UK. Her research interests focus on the evaluation of technologies for learning (web-based platforms, digital games, and mobile applications) through innovative research methodologies including crowdsourcing and learning analytics.