Learning Analytics

Describe the Instructional Technology Trend.

Learning analytics is the practice of making institutional and instructional decisions based on collected data. The data can involve things like student performance on certain subject areas, but can also include things like teacher performance, survey results, and so on.

How do you think this trend is going to impact learning/education?

Educators can create custom learning experiences for individual learners by carefully analyzing data and implementing the conclusions they make. For example, if students are struggling with a content area, educators can look at data on that particular area to find out exactly what instructional strategies are working and which ones aren't. If most of the class is missing the same question, the teacher can spend extra time on that area, revamp his or her instruction, and even analyze how relevant that area is in the first place.

Further, I think schools are going to make more and more staffing decisions with analytics in mind. If they're not doing so already, schools will begin setting up units of people who do nothing but analyze educational data. Strong data-analysis skills will be as valued on a principal's resume as his or her management skills.

As an instructional technologist, what do you need to do to keep up with this trend?

Obviously, a good way to keep tabs on this trend is to see how other schools are using data. Looking to peers is always a good way to make sure I'm staying current. However, if I wanted to innovate, I think it would be just as important to examine how other industries are using data. For example, there's a subculture in baseball revolving around something called sabermetrics, which uses advanced statistical analysis to decide which players to acquire and which to trade away. Baseball has used statistics for more than one hundred years. Sabermetrics changed baseball because it made a science of discerning which statistics to pay attention to; on-base percentage is more valuable than batting average, for instance. I think educators could follow that example and try to figure out which metrics are more important than others.

Provide two resources for reading that provide more information on this trend and explain why these readings stood out to you.

• Can Education Be ‘Moneyball’-ed?: If I'm going to invoke Moneyball, I should probably look at some of the hazards of implementing that philosophy in education. This piece from Time magazine looks some of the roadblocks to relying on statistical data. Among them, the lack of quality data on things like teacher performance.
• How Learning Analytics Are Being Used In Education: This article on Edudemic shows several examples of how different institutions use analytics. If schools are going to improve their use of analytics, they'll need to stay on the lookout for how others are making data work for them.

A Video from the web about the trend

Re-use information that you shared for your main post in the discussion forum (educreation, voki etc)

N/A