Utilizing Learning Analytics To Support Study Success

Students often enter higher education academically unprepared and with unrealistic perceptions and expectations of university life, which are critical factors that influence students’ decisions to leave their institutions prior to degree completion. Advances in educational technology and the current availability of vast amounts of educational data make it possible to represent how students interact with higher education resources, as well as provide insights into students’ learning behavior and processes. This volume offers new research in such learning analytics and demonstrates how they support students at institutions of higher education by offering personalized and adaptive support of their learning journey. It focuses on four major areas of discussion: · Theoretical perspectives linking learning analytics and study success. · Technological innovations for supporting student learning. · Issues and challenges for implementing learning analytics at higher education institutions. · Case studies showcasing successfully implemented learning analytics strategies at higher education institutions. Utilizing Learning Analytics to Support Study Success ably exemplifies how educational data and innovative digital technologies contribute to successful learning and teaching scenarios and provides critical insight to researchers, graduate students, teachers, and administrators in the general areas of education, educational psychology, academic and organizational development, and instructional technology.

Learning analytics is one of the most important research issues in the field of educational technology. By analyzing logs and records in educational databases and systems, it can provide useful information to teachers, learners, and decision makers – information which they can use to improve teaching strategies, learning performances, and educational policies. However, it is a great challenge for most researchers to efficiently analyze educational data in a meaningful way. This book presents various learning analytics approaches and applications, including the process of determining the coding scheme, analyzing the collected data, and interpreting the findings. This book was originally published as a special issue of Interactive Learning Environments.

In education today, technology alone doesn't always lead to immediate success for students or institutions. In order to gauge the efficacy of educational technology, we need ways to measure the efficacy of educational practices in their own right. Through a better understanding of how learning takes place, we may work toward establishing best practices for students, educators, and institutions. These goals can be accomplished with learning analytics. Learning Analytics: From Research to Practice updates this emerging field with the latest in theories, findings, strategies, and tools from across education and technological disciplines. Guiding readers through preparation, design, and examples of implementation, this pioneering reference clarifies LA methods as not mere data collection but sophisticated, systems-based analysis with practical applicability inside the classroom and in the larger world. Case studies illustrate applications of LA throughout academic settings (e.g., intervention, advisement, technology design), and their resulting impact on pedagogy and learning. The goal is to bring greater efficiency and deeper engagement to individual students, learning communities, and educators, as chapters show diverse uses of learning analytics to: Enhance student and faculty performance. Improve student understanding of course material. Assess and attend to the needs of struggling learners. Improve accuracy in grading. Allow instructors to assess and develop their own strengths. Encourage more efficient use of resources at the institutional level. Researchers and practitioners in educational technology, IT, and the learning sciences will hail the information in Learning Analytics: From Research to Practice as a springboard to new levels of student, instructor, and institutional success.

The research described in this book searches for the answers on how learners learn in todays open and networked learning environments and how learners, educators, institutions, and researchers can best support this process. There is sufficient data available on virtual learning environments, provided by learning analytics, on student and teacher behaviour and performance, but there is no common practice among teachers in higher education for using this data to improve the learning and teaching process. Learning analytics and data may inform and improve open and online learning from the point of view of teacher and learner awareness about their behaviour and their learning and teaching methods. The idea of describing learning analytics as a metacognitive tool, suggesting a development of metacognitive decision-making skills in teacher education, and focusing on learning design in higher education by using data from learning analytics served as the main focus of this research. The aim of the research was to create the model of application of learning analytics method as a metacognitive tool to enhance student success. The aim of the research was reached through theoretical and empirical objectives, namely: describing the learning analytics method as a metacognitive tool; revealing teacher metacognitive practices in application of learning analytics in teaching and learning, as well as learning design; and creating the model of application of learning analytics as a metacognitive tool to enhance student success. This research study is the result of the research project "Open Online Learning for Digital and Networked Society (3.3-LMT-K-712-01-0189)". The project is funded by the European Social Fund according to the activity "Improvement of researchers' qualification by implementing world-class R&D projects" of Measure No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712.

This edited volume provides a critical discussion of theoretical, methodological, and practical developments of contemporary forms of educational technologies. Specifically, the book discusses the use of contemporary technologies such as the Flipped Classroom (FC), Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Social Media, Serious Educational Games (SEG), Wikis, innovative learning software tools, and learning analytic approach for making sense of big data. While some of these contemporary educational technologies have been touted as panaceas, researchers and developers have been faced with enormous challenges in enhancing the use of these technologies to arouse student attention and improve persistent motivation, engagement, and learning. Hence, the book examines how contemporary technologies can engender student motivation and result in improved engagement and learning. Each chapter also discusses the road ahead and where appropriate, uses the current trend to predict future affordances of technologies.

Learning Analytics in Higher Education provides a foundational understanding of how learning analytics is defined, what barriers and opportunities exist, and how it can be used to improve practice, including strategic planning, course development, teaching pedagogy, and student assessment. Well-known contributors provide empirical, theoretical, and practical perspectives on the current use and future potential of learning analytics for student learning and data-driven decision-making, ways to effectively evaluate and research learning analytics, integration of learning analytics into practice, organizational barriers and opportunities for harnessing Big Data to create and support use of these tools, and ethical considerations related to privacy and consent. Designed to give readers a practical and theoretical foundation in learning analytics and how data can support student success in higher education, this book is a valuable resource for scholars and administrators.

How might digital technology and notably smart technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI), learning analytics, robotics, and others transform education? This book explores such question. It focuses on how smart technologies currently change education in the classroom and the management of educational organisations and systems.

Learning Analytics Explained draws extensively from case studies and interviews with experts in order to discuss emerging applications of the new field of learning analytics. Educational institutions increasingly collect data on students and their learning experiences, a practice that helps enhance courses, identify learners who require support, and provide a more personalized learning experience. There is, however, a corresponding need for guidance on how to carry out institutional projects, intervene effectively with students, and assess legal and ethical issues. This book provides that guidance while also covering the evolving technical architectures, standards, and products within the field.