Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and the contexts in which they learn, carried out to understand and optimize learning and the environments that support it. Its growth traces to the expansion of online learning since the 1990s, particularly in higher education, since a learning management system, social media platform or similar online tool can capture a learner's clicks, navigation patterns, time on task, social network and discussion activity for analysis. The rise of massive open online courses has given researchers additional data with which to evaluate teaching and learning in online environments.
Facts
Core ClaimLearning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, carried out to understand and optimize learning and the environments that support it. 1 FAQs
How is learning analytics different from educational data mining?
The two fields overlap heavily in aims and methods, and one proposed difference is where each community originated.
The two fields are hard to separate. Researchers have long tried to differentiate educational data mining from learning analytics, but the two areas overlap significantly in the objectives of investigators and in the methods and techniques used. One proposed distinction, from Brooks, is about origins rather than methods: authorship in the educational data mining community has been dominated by researchers from intelligent tutoring paradigms, while learning analytics researchers have been more focused on enterprise learning systems such as learning content management systems.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Learning analytics
Wikimedia FoundationLead paragraph, first sentence
Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs.
Lead paragraph, education-level
Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs.
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