ASCILITE 2014. Three paths for Learning Analytics

Three paths for learning analytics and beyond: Moving from rhetoric to reality

Colin Beer

CQUniversity

David Jones

University of Southern Queensland

Rolley Tickner

CQUniversity

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2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Learning analytics @ ASCILITE

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Oz/NZ Horizon Report

Year Time Frame Label

2010 4 to 5 years Visual data analysis

2012 1 year or less (#2) Learning analytics

2013 1 year or less (#1) Learning analytics

2014 2 to 3 years Learning analytics

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Learning analytics is essential for penetrating

the fog that has settled over much of higher

education(Siemens and Long, 2011, p. 40)

Learning analytics can contribute to course

design, student success, faculty

development, predictive modelling and

strategic information(Diaz & Brown, 2012)

Learning analytics has been identified as a

key future trend in learning and teaching

(Johnson et al, 2013; Lodge & Lewis, 2012;)

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I’m not familiar with (m)any universities that

have taken a systems-level view of LA.

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Most of what I’ve encountered to date is specific

research projects or small deployments of LA. I have

yet to see a systemic approach to analytics use/adoption

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Basing decisions on data and evidence

seems stunningly obvious

(Siemens and Long, 2011, p. 31)

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Management fashion is "relatively transitory collective

beliefs, disseminated by the discourse of knowledge

entrepreneurs, that a management technique is at the

forefront of rational management progress”

(Abrahamson and Fairchild, 2003)

Amplified by hyperbole…, the fashionable vision

may exert a strong, if transitory, normative pull

among managers.

(Swanson and Ramiller, 2004)

Fad cycle

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1. Technological spark

2. Growing revolution

3. Minimial impact

4. Resolution of dissonance

(Birnbaum, 2000)

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Learning Analytics

The typical

approach to

implementation

=

Three paths

Do it to Do it for Do it with

Early Alert Student Indicators (EASI)

BI Dashboard

Moodle

EASI

LA Database












• Formal project proposed during 2012

• 12+ iterations of the project initiation documentation

• Details on project scope, deliverables, budget, milestones and quality

• 3 x major budget revisions

• Project officially started in 2014 term 1 with an institution wide pilot


• Over 85,000 nudges delivered• Used by a majority of teaching staff• Deemed by senior management to be a

successful project• Contributed to Tier 1 & 2 L&T awards• Project was delivered on time and on budget

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Pitfalls

Complex and likely to fail

Resistance Compliance

Failures of rationality

Disappearing data

Loss of information

Tail wagging the dog

Do it to


Pitfalls

Complex and likely to fail

Resistance Compliance

Failures of rationality

Disappearing data

Loss of information

Tail wagging the dog

Do it toAuthor Planning Learning

Weick & Quinn (1999) Episodic change Continuous change

Brews & Hunt (1999) Planning school Learning school

Seely Brown & Hagel (2005)

Push system Pull systems

Hutchins (1991) Supervisor reflection and intervention

Local adjustment

Truex et al (2000) Traditional design Emergent design

March (1991) Exploitation Exploration

Boehm & Turner (2003) Plan-driven Agile

Mintzberg (1989) Deliberate strategy Emergent Strategy

Kurtz & Snowden (2007)

Idealistic Naturalistic


Pitfalls

The chasm

Blackbox

We don’t know how?

Do it for

Arguably, teachers are the primary change agents

in any educational system.

(Mor & Mogilevsky, 2013, p.1 )

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Academics are pivotal to implementing changes in

Learning and teaching…

(Radloff, 2008)

Teachers operate in a complex and dynamic domain –

the background knowledge and practices of their

students constantly change, the technologies and

resources at their disposal are perpetually evolving,

and the guidance and directives they receive are

frequently updated

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..underlined the importance of understanding context,

and

of involving teachers in the process of developing

and

deploying analytics (Sharples et al, 2013, p. 15)

Any attempt to introduce wide-scale educational

analytics and accountability processes thus requires

a thorough

understanding of the pedagogical and technical

context in which the data are generated.(Lockyer et al., 2013, p. 2)

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..drop the language of planning, controlling, and

measuring through which organisations, teams

and projects have been managed so far.

That language stems from heavy and slow-changing

industries and infrastructures.

(Cioborra, 2002)


The power of bricolage, improvisation and hacking is

that these activities are highly situated; they exploit,

in full, the local context and resources at hand, while

often pre-planned ways of operating appear to be

derooted, and less effective because they do not fit

the contigencies of the moment.

(Cioborra, 2002)


Competitive advantage related to ICTs can only stemfrom the cognitive and organisational capability toconvert such systems, applications and data into practical, situated, and unique knowledge for action.

(Cioborra, 2002 )

It’s a question of balance

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Colin Beer – [email protected]

David Jones – [email protected]

Rolley Tickner – [email protected]

Education

ASCILITE 2014. Three paths for Learning Analytics