ABOUT BOOK

Short Description:The purpose of this project was to understand how postsecondary educators perceived the emergent technology of learning analytics and to create a best practices guide for those interested in implementing learning analytics at their institutions. To understand how different university stakeholders perceived the available metrics in a variety of learning management systems, we conducted an exploratory, mixed-methods study at a mid-sized Ontario university. Survey and focus group data were collected and analyzed to examine the perspectives of faculty instructors, students, administrators, and support staff of their familiarity and knowledge of learning analytics for teaching and learning, as well as their interpretations of graphic representations of student activity in LMSs. The findings suggest that educators recognize the potential of learning analytics for student support, report limited usability in current visualizations, and privacy and the ethics of using student data. It is hoped that this practical guide will assist users in going beyond superficial measures of course activity or incorrect interpretations of data to harness the power of learning analytic tools in teaching and learning in higher education.