Opening to the inaugural workshop on Learning Analytics in Schools held at LAK18: International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge, Sydney. http://lak18.solaresearch.org

1. 1
A warm welcome to…
Learning Analytics in Schools
8th International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge
5th March 2018, SMC Conference Centre, Sydney
https://latte-analytics.sydney.edu.au/school
#lak18schools

2. 2
Welcome & Initial Remarks
Susi Steigler-Peters
CEO ProLearning

3. 3
What is “Learning Analytics” and
Why a Schools Day?
Simon Buckingham Shum
SoLAR Executive Member
Director, Connected Intelligence Centre, University of Technology Sydney
twitter @sbuckshum • blog + slides: Simon.BuckinghamShum.net

4. 4
NSW DEC • CESE Datahub (+ many comparable open data initiatives)
https://data.cese.nsw.gov.au

5. 5
Your school’s
data landscape?
Ferguson, D. (2018). Mapping the Data Landscape in a Secondary
School. Learning Analytics in Schools Workshop, Companion
Proceedings, 8th International Conference on Learning Analytics
& Knowledge (LAK18), Sydney (5-9 March 2018)
http://bit.ly/lak18-companion-proceedings

6. 6
Every educational product now comes with a “dashboard”…

7. So –
now we all understand
learning processes and
outcomes much better
– right?
7

8. 8
What is Learning Analytics?
Learning Analytics

9. 9
What is Learning Analytics?
Learning
student engagement
teaching practice
curriculum design
instructional design
pedagogy
assessment
epistemology
…
Analytics
data
statistics
classification
machine learning
text processing
visualisation
predictive models
…
this is not a straightforward dialogue!

10. 10
What is Learning Analytics?
Human
Factors
stakeholder involvement
participatory design cycles
user interface design
privacy and ethics
end-user evaluation
organisational strategy
staff training

11. Obviously (?)… analytics are not neutral
Du Gay, P. and Pryke, M. (2002) Cultural Economy: Cultural Analysis and Commercial Life. Sage, London. pp. 12-13
“accounting tools...do not simply aid
the measurement of economic activity,
they shape the reality they
measure”
11

12. 12
What is Learning Analytics?
Learning Analytics
Human
Factors …a distinctive mix
not found in many
other communities

13. 13
Why focus on Learning Analytics in Schools?
Future of School
Future of Work

14. 14
Why focus on Learning Analytics in Schools?
Raise the level of analytics literacy
among educators
Promote quality dialogue between
educators and analytics developers (both
commercial + open source)
Ensure that “the Data/AI revolution”
creates an educational future that
teachers and students want to live in
K-12 sector under-represented in our
programs

15. 15
Why focus on Learning Analytics in Schools?
Future of School
Future of Work
http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/about-us/key-people/mark-scott-s-update/learning-in-the-time-of-ai

16. 16
Why focus on Learning Analytics in Schools?
Future of School
Future of Work
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-09/urgent-need-to-rethink-schooling-to-fight-ai-era-joblessness/9131992

17. 17
Why focus on Learning Analytics in Schools?
Future of School
Future of Work
School improvement needs to be measurable
We need new measures for the new graduate
qualities needed in the workforce – data
science provides exciting possibilities
Students need to engage fluently yet critically
with analytics about themselves, AI and
statistical algorithms
We want the benefits that analytics are
bringing to higher education to be sector-wide
Vendors are pitching their analytics to schools
now: are they equipped to engage?

18. 18
What’s the big deal?
Data can tell us this…
What % students downloaded the assignment 2
weeks before the deadline?
Has Ann mastered the core concepts in
photosynthesis?
Which French verbs is John struggling with?
Statistically, is someone with Jo’s grades likely to
fail this subject?
Which bits of the video are watched most?
Did students who did the flipped activities very late
still achieve good grades?

19. 19
This is the big deal
Assessing competencies for
future employability
future innovation
lifelong learning

20. Institute for the Future • Future Workskills Report • http://www.iftf.org/futureworkskills

21. Can we tell from your digital
profile if you’re learning?
To conclude: the key question for Learning Analytics:

22. Can we tell from your digital
profile if you’re learning?
Who?
How? With what confidence?
With what training?
Sourcing which data,
with what integrity?
What kind of learning?
(What kind of teaching?)
Critical questions that might help our conversations…