Capacity building for digital education

Our special section on capacity building for digital education was published in ‘Open Learning’ in March. This work builds on our experience on the Skills for Prosperity Kenya project. The four papers in the section, and accompanying editorial, look at some of the lessons that can be learned from putting capacity building into practice in different Higher Education contexts.

Abstract

The paper’s editorial begins:

Building capacity for digital education can be a daunting prospect because digital education – also known as technology-enhanced learning or TEL – is a complex system. Such systems are difficult to model because of the ways in which their different elements – including people, technologies, and resources – relate to each other and depend upon each other. In the context of Higher Education, this complex includes interconnected information technology resources that can function as a unit, digital content, various forms of student feedback, not forgetting the various technologies and human actors involved. In this special collection, we argue that managing the growth of this complex system with all its interdependencies is crucial to its success. Through mapping these interdependencies, essential processes become clearer. These, in turn, illustrate how information/data is transferred between different parts of the ecosystem. This mapping should also reveal which parts of the system are not connected and therefore unable to exchange knowledge/data. One of the salient findings from work on ‘Covid challenges and opportunities driving the research agenda’ (Whitelock et al., Citation2021) was the need for specialised introductions to new devices and pedagogies, resulting in capacity building initiatives leading to managed growth.

Whitelock, Denise; Goshtasbpour, Fereshte; Pitt, Rebecca; Ferguson, Rebecca and Cross, Simon (2024). Capacity building for digital education. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 39(2) pp. 105–111. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02680513.2024.2317894

Interdisciplinarity in Open Technology-Enhanced Learning – special issue

Eileen Scanlon and I collaborated on a special collection for the Journal of Interactive Media in Education (JIME) that went live on 15 February 2024.

Interdisciplinarity in Open Technology-Enhanced Learning brings together work by researchers both inside and outside the Open Technology Enhanced Learning (OpenTEL) group that relate to themes explored over the last five years and demonstrating how they can be applied across disciplines. Together, the papers highlight major barriers to learning – lack of resources, unequal access to resources, limited access for people with disabilities, growing recognition of the scale of mental health issues – and identify ways of reducing these barriers in TEL contexts.

The collection begins with an editorial, authored by Eileen and I, introducing this special issue on interdisciplinarity in open technology-enhanced learning andexplaining its roots in the work of the OpenTEL group.

Goals and scholarship of learning analytics

To promote cross-community dialogue on matters of significance within the field of learning analytics], Hassan, Olga, Vita and I, as editors-in-chief of the Journal of Learning Analytics have introduced a section for papers that are open to peer commentary. The first of these papers, “A LAK of Direction: Misalignment Between the Goals of Learning Analytics and its Research Scholarship” by Motz et al. (2023), appeared in the journal’s early access section in March 2023, a few days before the start of the 13th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference (LAK ’23).

“A LAK of Direction” takes as its starting point the definition of learning analytics used in the call for papers of the first LAK conference (LAK ’11) and used since then by the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR): “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” (Long & Siemens, 2011, p. 24). Following the conference, an invitation to submit proposals for commentaries on the paper was released, and 12 of these proposals were accepted. This paper brings those commentaries together.

Ferguson, Rebecca; Khosravi, Hassan; Kovanović, Vitomir; Viberg, Olga; Aggarwal, Ashish; Brinkhuis, Mattheiu; Buckingham Shum, Simon; Chen, Lujie Karen; Drachsler, Hendrik; Guerrero, Valerie A; Hanses, Michael; Hayward, Caitlin; Hicks, Ben; Jivet, Ioana; Kitto, Kirsty; Kizilcec, René; Lodge, Jason M; Manly, Catherine A; Matz, Rebecca L; Meaney, Michael J; Ochoa, Xavier; Schuetze, Brendan A; Spruit, Marco; van Haastrecht, Max; van Leeuwen, Anouschka; van Rijn, Lars; Tsai, Yi-Shan; Weidlich, Joshua; Williamson, Kimberly and Yan, Veronica X (2023). Aligning the Goals of Learning Analytics with its Research Scholarship: An Open Peer Commentary Approach. Journal of Learning Analytics, 10(2) pp. 14–50.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2023.8197

Fairness, Equity, and Responsibility in learning analytics

A new issue of the Journal of Learning Analytics came out on 12 March 2023, just in time for the Learning Analytics and Knowledge conference  (LAK23).

Fairness, Trust, Transparency, Equity, and Responsibility in Learning Analytics Mohammad Khalil, Paul Prinsloo, Sharon Slade

Special Section on Fairness, Equity, and Responsibility in Learning Analytics

Amplifying Student and Administrator Perspectives on Equity and Bias in Learning Analytics Alone Together in Higher Education Rebecca E. Heiser, Mary Ellen Dello Stritto, Allen Brown, Benjamin Croft

Applying a Responsible Innovation Framework in Developing an Equitable Early Alert System: A Case Study Chris Patterson, Emily York, Danielle Maxham, Rudy Molina, Paul Mabrey

The Effects of Explanations in Automated Essay Scoring Systems on Student Trust and Motivation Rianne Conijn, Patricia Kahr, Chris Snijders

Transparency and Trustworthiness in User Intentions to Follow Career Recommendations from a Learning Analytics Tool Egle Gedrimiene, Ismail Celik, Kati Mäkitalo, Hanni Muukkonen

Learning Analytics in Physics Education Equity-Focused Decision-Making Lacks Guidance! Adrian Grimm, Anneke Steegh, Marcus Kubsch, Knut Neumann

“It’s like a double-edged sword”: Mentor Perspectives on Ethics and Responsibility in a Learning Analytics–Supported Virtual Mentoring Program Hakeoung Hannah Lee, Emma Gargroetzi

Learning Analytics and the Abolitionist Imagination Shea Swauger, Remi Kalir

The Promise of MOOCs Revisited? Demographics of Learners Preparing for University Michael Meaney, Thomas Fikes

New Vistas on Responsible Learning Analytics A Data Feminist Perspective Teresa Cerratto Pargman, Cormac McGrath, Olga Viberg, Simon Knight

Research Papers

Six Practical Recommendations Enabling Ethical Use of Predictive Learning Analytics in Distance Education Irina Rets, Christothea Herodotou, Anna Gillespie

Serious Game Analytics by Design: Feature Generation and Selection Using Game Telemetry and Game Metrics Toward Predictive Model Construction Wenyi Lu, Joe Griffin, Troy D. Sadler, James Laffey, Sean P. Goggins

 

JLA: practitioners, take note!

Issue 9(2) of the Journal of Learning Analytics came out on 16 December 2022. I had been one of the editors-in-chief for just over a year at this point, so I was beginning to see some of the papers I had taken charge of make their way through to publication. The issue included five papers in a special section on analytics for game-based learning, as well as another six research papers.

The journal includes an editorial in the last issue of each year, so Vitomir Kovanović, Xavier Ochoa and I took the opportunity to look back at the Notes for Practice that each research paper in the journal has included over the past five years.

Abstract

The editorial looks back at the journal in 2022 and forward to 2023. For this editorial, we analysed all ‘Notes for Practice’ published in the journal from when they first appeared in issue 5(1) to the end of November, 2022. Our goals were to examine critically the ways in which these notes have been used to foster collaboration between researchers and practitioners, and also to summarise key findings that practitioners can use to inform their work. Our analysis covers 434 Notes for Practice from 130 different papers. The full dataset used for this analysis is provided as a supplementary file.

Ferguson, R., Ochoa, X., & Kovanović, V. (2022). Learning Analytics: Practitioners, Take Note: Journal of Learning Analytics Editorial 2022. Journal of Learning Analytics, 9(3), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2022.7937

 

 

Roles and value of citizen science

Maria Aristeidou led research work on the roles and value of citizen science, drawing on data from our postgraduate course on foundations and futures of technology-enhanced learning.

Abstract

Recent findings regarding learning in Citizen Science (CS) have led to an increase in CS project popularity in formal education classrooms. However, there has been little discussion of educators’ initial views on CS. This study examined the perceptions of professional educators enrolled on a postgraduate course in relation to expertise and data quality in CS and to how CS can enhance learning. Collected data comprised comments on the FutureLearn platform made by 164 educators, over two years, after they became involved in CS activities while studying. Findings showed that, overall, educators recognise the power of CS for learning, but are sceptical about the role of experts and the quality of data gathered in this way. Further results highlighted the different motivations educators have for participating in CS (compared with other volunteers) and their need to frame learning that takes place through CS using learning theories and models. The findings of this study have considerable implications for research into designing training activities that introduce educators to CS in classroom settings and support their role as intermediaries of CS.

Aristeidou, Maria; Ferguson, Rebecca; Perryman, Leigh-Anne and Tegama, Natalie (2021). The Roles and Value of Citizen Science: Perceptions of Professional Educators Enrolled on a Postgraduate Course. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 6(1), article no. 24.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/cstp.421

Human-centred learning analytics

Out today – special section of the Journal of Learning Analytics, edited by Simon Buckingham Shum, Roberto Martinez-Maldonado and I. The section was inspired by the focus of the LAK18 conference on user-centred learning analytics.

The special section begins with a paper by Simon, Roberto and I that looks at the benefits and challenges of using human-centred approaches within learning analytics.

Abstract

The design of effective learning analytics (LA) extends beyond sound technical and pedagogical principles. If analytics are to be adopted and used successfully to support learning and teaching, their design process needs to take into account a range of human factors, including why and how they will be used. In this editorial, we introduce principles of human-centred design developed in other, related fields that can be adopted and adapted to support the development of human-centred learning analytics (HCLA). We draw on the papers in this special section, together with the wider literature, to define human-centred design in the field of LA and to identify the benefits and challenges that this approach offers. We conclude by suggesting that HCLA will enable the community to achieve more impact, more quickly, with tools that are fit for the purpose and a pleasure to use.

Dimensions of personalisation in TEL

New paper out in the British Journal of Educational Technology, co-authored with a host of people. Lead author Liz FitzGerald plus Natalia Kucirkova, Ann Jones, Simon Cross, Thea Herodotou, Garron Hillaire and Eileen Scanlon.

The framework proposed in the paper has six dimensions:

1. what is being personalised
2. type of learning
3. personal characteristics of the learner
4. who/what is doing the personalisation
5. how personalisation is carried out
6. impact / beneficiaries

Abstract

Personalisation of learning is a recurring trend in our society, referred to in government speeches, popular media, conference and research papers and technological innovations. This latter aspect – of using personalisation in technology-enhanced learning (TEL) – has promised much but has not always lived up to the claims made. Personalisation is often perceived to be a positive phenomenon, but it is often difficult to know how to implement it effectively within educational technology.

In order to address this problem, we propose a framework for the analysis and creation of personalised TEL. This article outlines and explains this framework with examples from a series of case studies. The framework serves as a valuable resource in order to change or consolidate existing practice and suggests design guidelines for effective implementations of future personalised TEL.

FitzGerald, Elizabeth; Kucirkova, Natalia; Jones, Ann; Cross, Simon; Ferguson, Rebecca; Herodotou, Christothea; Hillaire, Garron and Scanlon, Eileen (2017). Dimensions of personalisation in technology-enhanced learning: a framework and implications for design. British Journal of Educational Technology (early view).

Developing a strategic approach to MOOCs

Our introductory article for the JIME special issue on MOOCs focused on the research work carried out in the area by UK universities who are FutureLearn partners.

‘Developing a strategic approach to MOOCs’ uses the work carried out at these universities to identify nine priority areas for MOOC research and how these can be developed in the future:

1. Develop a strategic approach to MOOCs.
2. Expand the benefits of teaching and learning in MOOCs.
3. Offer well-designed assessment and accreditation.
4. Widen participation and extend access.
5. Develop and make effective use of appropriate pedagogies.
6. Support the development of educators.
7. Make effective use of learning design.
8. Develop methods of quality assurance.
9. Address issues related to privacy and ethics.

Ferguson, Rebecca; Scanlon, Eileen and Harris, Lisa (2016). Developing a strategic approach to MOOCs. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2016(1), article no. 21.

Abstract

During the last eight years, interest in massive open online courses (MOOCs) has grown fast and continuously worldwide. Universities that had never engaged with open or online learning have begun to run courses in these new environments. Millions of learners have joined these courses, many of them new to learning at this level. Amid all this learning and teaching activity, researchers have been busy investigating different aspects of this new phenomenon. In this contribution we look at one substantial body of work, publications on MOOCs that were produced at the 29 UK universities connected to the FutureLearn MOOC platform. Bringing these papers together, and considering them as a body of related work, reveals a set of nine priority areas for MOOC research and development. We suggest that these priority areas could be used to develop a strategic approach to learning at scale. We also show how the papers in this special issue align with these priority areas, forming a basis for future work.

Researching MOOCs: JIME special issue

I was one of the editors of a special issue of the Journal of Interactive Media in Education (JIME) on Researching MOOCs. The special issue draws on the work of the FutureLearn Academic Network (FLAN), which is made up of academics st universities that are FutureLearn partners.

Other editors were Eileen Scanlon (The Open University) and Lisa Harris (University of Southampton).

The special issue contains five papers.