Learning analytics in higher education

George SiemensSeptember 1, 2011

Pretoria, South Africa

We leave data trails everywhere we go

and in whatever we do.

That data is valuable.

It reveals our sentiments, our attitudes,our social connections,our intentions,and what we might do next.

We’re giving most of that data away.

for free. 

(or in exchange for some service)

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-cia-just-put-a-ton-of-cash-into-a-software-firm-that-monitors-your-online-activity-2011-7 

American intelligence communities are interested in your YouTube video, flickr uploads, tweets -- even your online book purchases -- and for over a year they've been laying down some serious cash to get a better look at all of them.

http://www.informationbuilders.com/news/press/release/9483 

 dashboard solution with geographical and predictive analysis to help identify where and how resources should be deployed to reduce crime.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903885604576486330882679982.

html 

International Business Machines Corp., 

which has invested more than $14 bill

ion 

buying analytics industry companies…since 

2005, has teamed up with more than 200 

schools…to develop analytics curriculum 

and training.

$3 million:

Who is going to be admitted into a hospital?

Talk-o-meter: who talks the most?

“Whether from government transparency initiatives, leaks or Freedom of Information requests, journalists are drowning in more documents than they can ever hope to read.

We’re building an interactive system where computers do the visualization, while a human guides the exploration.”

http://overview.ap.org/about/ 

Recommenders are everywhere

Recommenders gone bad

ThisDOES NOTequal this

So are ‘matching’ tools

Facial recognition

http://www.alternet.org/news/152231/5_unexpected_places_you_can_be_tracked_with_facial_recognition_technology 

Socially-driven suggestions

Each new node amplifies the value of the entire network…and produces lock-in

Let’s look at this from the lens of teaching and learning

Academic Analytics

“Academic analytics helps address the public’s desire for institutional accountability with regard to student success, given the widespread concern over the cost of higher education and the difficult economic and budgetary conditions prevailing worldwide.”

http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/SignalsApplyingAcademicAnalyti/199385

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.

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http://www.skyrill.com/seatinghabits/ 

Approximate spatiotemporal trajectories of some classes.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0023176 

Aggregated networks of daily contactshttp://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0023176 

http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Texas-Adopts-Plan-to/128800 

The plan…designates money to create a "dashboard"—an interactive, online database—to give students, parents, and legislators access to detailed measures of departments' and colleges' productivity and efficiency. Data on individual professors will probably also be included

Let’s avoid the mistakes of previous educational technology adoption.

Let’s start with open.and learnersand educatorsand researchers

Proposal:

Open Learning Analytics Architecture

IntegratedModularizedExtensible

Researchers involved:

George Siemens & Dragan Gasevic Athabasca University, CanadaCaroline Haythornthwaite & Shane Dawson University of British Columbia, CanadaSimon Buckingham Shum & Rebecca Ferguson Open University, United KingdomErik Duval & Katrien Verbert Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BelgiumRyan S. J. d. BakerWorcester Polytechnic Institute, United States 

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Analytics and connectivism

What is explicit can be connected.What can be connected can be analyzed.

We want to understand why this happens.

And what it means when it does.Or when it doesn’t.And the nature of power and control in enabling/preventing it.

change.mooc.ca

Twitter: gsiemens 

www.elearnspace.org/blog

Learning Analytics & Knowledge 2012: Vancouver

 http://lak12.sites.olt.ubc.ca/