Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 991-1007 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Teaching in Higher Education |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| Early online date | 24 May 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 17 Nov 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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Learning analytics : challenges and limitations. / Wilson, Anna; Watson, Cate; Thompson, Terrie L.; Drew, Valerie; Doyle, Sarah.
In: Teaching in Higher Education, Vol. 22, No. 8, 17.11.2017, p. 991-1007.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Learning analytics
T2 - challenges and limitations
AU - Wilson, Anna
AU - Watson, Cate
AU - Thompson, Terrie L.
AU - Drew, Valerie
AU - Doyle, Sarah
PY - 2017/11/17
Y1 - 2017/11/17
N2 - Learning analytic implementations are increasingly being included in learning management systems in higher education. We lay out some concerns with the way learning analytics – both data and algorithms – are often presented within an unproblematized Big Data discourse. We describe some potential problems with the often implicit assumptions about learning and learners – and indeed the tendency not to theorize learning explicitly – that underpin such implementations. Finally, we describe an attempt to devise our own analytics, grounded in a sociomaterial conception of learning. We use the data obtained to suggest that the relationships between learning and the digital traces left by participants in online learning are far from trivial, and that any analytics that relies on these as proxies for learning tends towards a behaviourist evaluation of learning processes.
AB - Learning analytic implementations are increasingly being included in learning management systems in higher education. We lay out some concerns with the way learning analytics – both data and algorithms – are often presented within an unproblematized Big Data discourse. We describe some potential problems with the often implicit assumptions about learning and learners – and indeed the tendency not to theorize learning explicitly – that underpin such implementations. Finally, we describe an attempt to devise our own analytics, grounded in a sociomaterial conception of learning. We use the data obtained to suggest that the relationships between learning and the digital traces left by participants in online learning are far from trivial, and that any analytics that relies on these as proxies for learning tends towards a behaviourist evaluation of learning processes.
U2 - 10.1080/13562517.2017.1332026
DO - 10.1080/13562517.2017.1332026
M3 - Article
VL - 22
SP - 991
EP - 1007
JO - Teaching in Higher Education
JF - Teaching in Higher Education
SN - 1356-2517
IS - 8
ER -