FIGURE 1: Geolocation map of user tweets using the hash tag #lasi14 (As of 2014-06-29 19:00:00 EST) The second annual Learning Analytics Summer Institutes (LASI) begin tomorrow. I am delighted to have been selected as one of the participants for this year’s event, and look forward to coming away at the end of the three…
Continue ReadingUsing SNAPP in OSX
In recent months, many folks (myself included) have been frustrated by a sudden incompatibility between SNAPP and the latest version of popular browsers and Java. SNAPP (Social Networks Adapting Pedagogical Practice) is a highly useful tool for visualizing discussion board activity in Blackboard, Moodle, and Sakai. I have wanted to use it, and to recommend…
Continue ReadingTeaching the Unteachable: On the Compatibility of Learning Analytics and Humane Education
This paper is an exploratory effort to find a place for learning analytics in humane education. After distinguishing humane education from training on the basis of the Aristotelian model of intellectual capabilities, and arguing that humane education is distinct by virtue of its interest in cultivating prudence, which is unteachable, an account of three key…
Continue ReadingLearning Analytics for a World of Constant Change
Slides from a presentation delivered during the a Digital Pedagogy Meetup in Atlanta (20 February 2014), discussing ways in which traditional analytics may stifle innovation, and identifying several ways in which embedded approaches to learning analytics may actually contribute to the development of personal responsibility, critical thinking, digital citizenship, and imagination — characteristics so vital…
Continue Reading“Educational Data Mining and Learning Analytics”
This week, Ryan Baker posted a link to a piece, co-written with George Siemens, that is meant to function as an introduction to the fields of Educational Data Mining (EDM) and Learning Analytics (LA). “Educational Data Mining and Learning Analytics” is book chapter primarily concerned with methods and tools, and does an excellent job of…
Continue ReadingFour (Bad) Questions about Big Data
A colleague recently sent me an email that included four questions that he suggested were the most concerning to both data management companies and customers: * Big Data Tools – What’s working today? What’s next? Big Data Storage – Do organizations have a manageable and scalable storage strategy? Big Data Analytics – How are organizations…
Continue ReadingLearning Analytics as Teaching Practice
Too often, it seems, conversations about learning analytics focus too much on means, and not enough on ends. Learning analytics initiatives are always justified by the promise of using data as a way of identifying students at risk, in order to develop interventions that would increase their chances of success. In spite of the fact…
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