The Next Step for Learning Analytics

Learning Analytics Initiatives Learning analytics is the third wave of developments in instructional technology, which began with the advent of the learning management system (LMS) in 1991. The second wave integrated the LMS into the wider educational enterprise by involving learners on social networks (also known as the Web 2.0 wave). During this third wave, learning analytics as a term has been significantly popularized by the Educause International Conferences on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (LAK),2 which started in 2011 (https://tekri.athabascau. ca/analytics). Learning analytics focuses on collecting and analyzing data from a variety of sources to provide information on what works (and what doesn’t) with respect to teaching and learning.3,4 This helps educational institutions improve their quality of learning and overall competitiveness. Consequently, many research communities have developed a variety of promising initiatives, models, and applications to improve learner success. For example, Santa Monica College’s Glass Classroom initiative,5 introduced in December 2012, aims to enhance student and teacher performance by collecting and analyzing large amounts of data. Using realtime feedback of the student’s performance, Glass Class room adjusts the courseware to meet educational objectives. Another example is at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since May 2012, the university has been working to develop a data-driven “early-warning” system that faculty and advisors can use to support student academic success.6 The system will help identify academically at-risk students, using nontraditional indicators that can be gathered early in a student’s career, even at the beginning of a semester. The system aims to intervene early, improve students’ academic success, and bolster the campus’s retention and graduation rates. Furthermore, many research groups and societies are providing excellent networks for researchers who are exploring the impact of analytics on teaching, learning, training, and development (see the “Related Learning Analytics Research” sidebar). In particular, these groups and societies are promoting several learning analytics models, which have been Related Learning Analytics Research