Presented as part of the University of Sussex's TEL Seminar Series There is greater awareness of the use of data to make improvements in the world around us including learning and teaching. From improvements in business processes to recommendations to what to buy on Amazon all are driven by data. Data by itself does not make a better learner experience and only analytics, the process of making an actionable insight, can help identify gains. As an emerging area 'Learning Analytics' is abound with new opportunities but at the same time these opportunities also raise new ethical and operational concerns. In this presentation we introduce some basic learning analytics concepts, identifying tools and workflows staff may wish to consider. As part of this we also consider the dangers of analytics identifying areas which may lead to learner demotivation or misconception and the questions we should all be asking ourselves to make sure we are always gaining *good* actionable insight. http://www.sussex.ac.uk/tel/workshops/seminar/martin-hawksey

1. Learning Analytics:
Gaining good actionable insight
Martin Hawksey
@mhawksey

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ALT Online Winter
Conference 2015
Week commencing 7th December 2015
http://go.alt.ac.uk/ALT-Online-2015-Call
(call closes 9am on Mon 2nd Nov. 2015)

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How much do you know
about Learning
Analytics?
In small groups share what you
Learning Analytics – 4mins
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9. Patterns are
left behind
Courtesy Marc Smith
http://www.slideshare.net/Marc_A_Smith/2013-nodexl-social-media-network-analysis9

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Analytics in Education
Analytics is the process of developing actionable
insights through problem definition and the
application of statistical models and analysis against
existing and/or simulated future data
Adam Cooper, What is Analytics? http://publications.cetis.ac.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2012/11/What-is-Analytics-Vol1-No-5.pdf
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Learning Analytics Definition
…the measurement, collection, analysis and
reporting of data about learners and their
contexts, for purposes of understanding and
optimising learning and the environments in
which it occurs
First International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (LAK11), 2011
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Disciplines
◊ Computer science
◊ Statistics
◊ Programming
◊ Network analysis
◊ Psychology of education
◊ …
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Methods
◊ Content Analytics
◊ Context Analytics
◊ Discourse Analytics
◊ Disposition Analytics
◊ Social Network Analysis
◊ …
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Ferguson and Buckingham Shum (2012) Social Learning Analytics: Five Approaches

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Tools/Products
◊ Spreadsheets - MS Excel, Tableau, Open
Refine, Google Sheets…
◊ SNA – NodeXL, Gephi, Cytoscape
◊ Programming: R, Python, MATLAB…
◊ VLEs - Blackboard Analytics for Learn,
Desire2Learn Insights …
◊ …
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Action
Analytic
Data
Question

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The Absence of Theory
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Amazon cares not a whit *why*
people who buy german chocolate
also buy cake pans as long as they
get to the checkout buying both
Mike Caulfield - Short Notes on the Absence of Theory
http://hapgood.us/2013/12/10/short-notes-on-the-absence-
of-theory/
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Counts don’t count much if
decontextualized
Wilson, T.D. (1999). Models in information behaviour research.
Journal of Documentation, 55(3), 249 – 270.
@mhawksey
Dragan Gasevic speaking at DiCE Seminar
Moray House School of Education – 9th January 2015
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Dragan Gasevic speaking at DiCE Seminar
Moray House School of Education – 9th January 2015
Analytics to account for
conditions, operations, products,
evaluation, and standards (COPES)
Gašević, D., Dawson, S., Siemens, G. (2015). Let's not forget:
Learning analytics are about learning. TechTrends, 59(1), 64-71,
https://bit.ly/techtrends15
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Data Visualization
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Image credit: http://practicalanalytics.co/2014/06/02/cloud-based-healthcare-platform-
apples-health-app-and-healthkit/

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Graphs can be a powerful way to represent
relationships between data, but they are also a
very abstract concept, which means that they
run the danger of meaning something only to
the creator of the graph … Everything looks
like a graph, but almost nothing should ever
be drawn as one.
Ben Fry in ‘Visualizing Data’
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Exploratory visualization
Data visualizations that are used by
the designer for self-informative
purposes to discover patterns, trends,
or sub-problems in a dataset.
Exploratory visualizations typically
don’t have an already-known story.
Explanatory visualization
Data visualizations that are used to
transmit information or a point of view
from the designer to the reader.
Explanatory visualizations typically
have a specific “story” or information
that they are intended to transmit.
Iliinsky & Steele -
Designing Data
Visualizations:
Representing
Informational
Relationships
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Visualizations can be
harmful
Corrin, L., & de Barba, P. (2014). Exploring students’
interpretation of feedback delivered through learning
analytics dashboards. In Proceedings of the ascilite 2014
conference (pp. 629-633). ascilite.
@mhawksey
Dragan Gasevic speaking at DiCE Seminar
Moray House School of Education – 9th January 2015
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Visualizations can be
useful
…if embedded into and fit
learning tasks
@mhawksey
Dragan Gasevic speaking at DiCE Seminar
Moray House School of Education – 9th January 2015
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Ethics, privacy and data sharing
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The worlds of
privacy and
analytics
intersect
Downes (2014)
@mhawksey
…not always
happily
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© Unknown
Source: http://crooksandliars.com/files/primary_image/14/05/inbloom-drawing.jpg

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Ethics
◊ Clarity
◊ Comfort and care
◊ Choice and consent
◊ Consequence and complaint
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Legal, Risk and Ethical Aspects of Analytics in Higher Education (Kay, Korn,
& Oppenheim, 2012)

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http://www.open.ac.uk/students/charter/essential-documents/ethical-use-student-
data-learning-analytics-policy

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https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/code-of-practice-for-learning-analytics

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Opportunities
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Feedback loops between
students and instructors are
missing!
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback.
Review of education research, 77(1), 82-112.
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At best analytics can help start
a conversation. People have to
be willing to take the
conversation on
Roberts, G. Analytics are not relationships
http://rworld2.brookesblogs.net/2014/12/12/analytics-are-not-
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What might you use
Learning Analytics for?
In small groups discuss – 5mins
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Examples
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Optimal Video Length
Philip Guo, Optimal Video Length for Student Engagement
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Misconception or mistakes in MCQs
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Koller, D The Online Revolution: Education at Scale (2012)
http://youtu.be/ixE1YAlHnVU?t=29m16s

39. Analytics at scale: Course Signals
Developed at Purdue University, USA
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Arnold, K. E., & Pistilli, M. (2012). Course Signals at Purdue: Using Learning Analytics
To Increase Student Success. Paper presented at LAK12, Vancouver, Canada.
http://www.slides
hare.net/R3becca
F/scaling-up-
learning-analytics

40. Easily accessible OU data
Learning design and analytics at the OU
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http://www.slides
hare.net/R3becca
F/scaling-up-
learning-analytics

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Scaling up Learning Analytics
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii4EgnOvpxA
@mhawksey

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Wrapping up
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Learning activities don’t
happen in a single platform
Dragon Gasevic
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Not everything that can be
counted counts.
Not everything that counts
can be counted.
William Bruce Cameron
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What kind of learners are
we trying to create?
… this should drive our
analytics
Simon Buckingham Shum
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Computers are stupid
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https://twitter.com/jackyalcine/status/615329515909156865

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Useful links
• LACE (learning analytics community exchange) :
http://www.laceproject.eu/
• SoLAR : Society for Learning Analytics Research
http://solaresearch.org/
• Jisc: http://analytics.jiscinvolve.org/wp
• Cetis Analytics Series : http://publications.cetis.ac.uk/c/analytics
• LAK16 Conference #lak16
From http://www.slideshare.net/sheilamac/intro-to-learning-analytics-universities-
scotlanddec2014smn
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Thank you!
@mhawksey+MartinHawksey
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49. Association for Learning Technology
Registered charity number: 1063519
www.alt.ac.uk @A_L_T