Defining how learning analytics can support student engagement in assessment and feedback

Learning Analytics (LA) dashboards currently provide visual summaries of student data that can be easily captured such as grades, attendance, VLE log-ins, etc. The holy grail that many enthusiasts believe can reveal new truths about learners, and their behaviors, has, to date, been accompanied by little critical attention. Gasevic (2015) and Stewart (2017) note that analytic tools that are uninformed by learning theory are unlikely to achieve effective or practical adoption. Providing students and staff with ‘actionable’ feedback is one of the main and persisting limitations (Gasevic and Siemens 2015). . This presentation will report on a work in progress JISC funded project that explores the complex relationship of student learning with their experience of assessment. It will consider (a) theoretical models and existing research to identify predictive data sources and relations and (b) work with students and staff to identify objectives for analytics and data sources to generate better insights into student learning and institutional effectiveness - self-regulated learners must be at the heart of any analytic processes that enables them to act upon feedback.