Learning Analytics: Using Data to understand Learning

Title:  Learning Analytics: Using Data to understand Learning

Abstract: The analysis of data collected from user interactions with educational and information technology has attracted much attention as a promising approach for advancing our understanding of the learning process.  This promise motivated the emergence of the new field learning analytics and mobilized the education sector to embrace the use of data for decision-making. This talk will first introduce the field of learning analytics and touch on lessons learned from some well-known case studies. The talk will then identify critical challenges that require immediate attention in order for learning analytics to make a sustainable impact on research and practice of learning and teaching. The talk will conclude in discussing a set of milestones selected as critical for the maturation of the field of learning analytics. The most important take away from the talk will be that learning analytics are about learning and that computational aspects of learning analytics need to be integrated deeply with educational research and practice.

Biopic:

Dragan Gasevic is a Professor and the Chair in Learning Analytics and Informatics in the Schools of Education and Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. As the incoming President (2015-2017) and a co-founder of the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR), he has had the pleasure to serve as a founding program co-chair of the International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge (LAK) in 2011 and 2012, founding program co-chair of the Learning Analytics Summer Institute (LASI) in 2013 and 2014, and a founding editor of the Journal of Learning Analytics since 2013. Computer scientist by formal education, Dragan considers himself a learning scientist whose research centers on learning analytics, self-regulated and social learning, higher education policy, and data mining. The award-winning work of his team on the LOCO-Analytics software is considered one of the pioneering contributions in the growing area of learning analytics. Recently, he has founded ProSolo Technologies Inc that developed a software solution for tracking, evaluating, and recognizing competencies gained through self-directed learning and social interactions. He is a frequent keynote speaker and a (co-)author of numerous research papers and books.