Research on ICT in K-12 schools e A review of experimental and survey-based studies in computers & education 2011 to 2015

International audienceWhat is the role of a journal? Is it to follow the research or lead it? For the former, it is to serve as an archival record of the scholarship in a field. It can serve to permit the research community to engage with each other via the written record. But, for the latter, it can serve the research community by pointing out gaps in the research based on the archival record. This review is intended to do just that

Identifying needs for learning analytics adoption in Latin American universities: A mixed-methods approach

Se considera que Learning Analytics (LA) es una estrategia prometedora para abordar los desafíos educativos persistentes en América Latina, como las disparidades de calidad y las altas tasas de deserción. Sin embargo, las universidades latinoamericanas se han retrasado en la adopción de LA en comparación con las instituciones de otras regiones. Para comprender las necesidades de los interesados ​​de los servicios de AL, este estudio utilizó métodos mixtos para recopilar datos en cuatro universidades latinoamericanas. Se obtuvieron datos cualitativos de 37 entrevistas con gerentes y 16 grupos focales con 51 docentes y 45 estudiantes, mientras que los datos cuantitativos se obtuvieron de encuestas respondidas por 1884 estudiantes y 368 docentes. De acuerdo con la triangulación de ambos tipos de evidencia, encontramos que (1) los estudiantes necesitan comentarios de calidad y apoyo oportuno, (2) el personal docente necesita alertas oportunas y evaluaciones de desempeño significativas, y (3) los gerentes necesitan información de calidad para implementar intervenciones de apoyo. Por lo tanto, LA ofrece la oportunidad de integrar la toma de decisiones basada en datos en las tareas existentes. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.Learning Analytics (LA) is perceived to be a promising strategy to tackle persisting educational challenges in Latin America, such as quality disparities and high dropout rates. However, Latin American universities have fallen behind in LA adoption compared to institutions in other regions. To understand stakeholders' needs for LA services, this study used mixed methods to collect data in four Latin American Universities. Qualitative data was obtained from 37 interviews with managers and 16 focus groups with 51 teaching staff and 45 students, whereas quantitative data was obtained from surveys answered by 1884 students and 368 teaching staff. According to the triangulation of both types of evidence, we found that (1) students need quality feedback and timely support, (2) teaching staff need timely alerts and meaningful performance evaluations, and (3) managers need quality information to implement support interventions. Thus, LA offers an opportunity to integrate data-driven decision-making in existing tasks. © 2020 Elsevier Inc

Engaged Versus Disengaged Teaching Staff: A Case Study of Continuous Curriculum Improvement in Higher Education

International audienceOver the past two decades, external influences over continuous curriculum improvement have increased, so universities have implemented centralized approaches to respond to external accountability demands, such as national and international accreditations. These approaches have diminished teaching staff engagement with continuous curriculum improvement, without necessarily improving student outcome attainment. To illustrate mechanisms that engage and disengage teaching staff, we present a case study of a 3-year continuous improvement process implemented in a selective university in Chile. Throughout the process, 61 teaching staff members were involved in outcome assessment tasks and curriculum discussions. By triangulating three sources of evidence (97 assessment plans, 27 meeting minutes and 11 interviews), we identified engagement mechanisms that were related to staff members’ motivation to improve student outcomes, and disengagement mechanisms that were related to their reticence towards misaligned and externally imposed policies. Teaching staff’s perspectives on continuous improvement were discussed for further generalization of these mechanisms

Self-tracking Time-On-Task: Web-Based Weekly Timesheets for Higher Education Students

International audienceDue to the transition to online education, higher education students require more support to self-regulate their learning and their time management. This paper presents a work-in-progress conducted to design and implement web-based weekly timesheets to collect students’ self-reports of time-on-task regarding different course activities. During the second semester of 2020, 5,221 students received the web-based weekly timesheets, and 3,131 voluntarily self-reported time-on-task throughout 16 weeks. At the end of the semester, a questionnaire was applied to evaluate the perceived usability and usefulness of this web-based application. This questionnaire was voluntarily answered by 1,200 students; 92% perceived that the timesheets were easy to use and 75% that it was useful for monitoring their academic workload. In their comments, students reveal that the tool allowed them to become aware of the number of hours spent outside of class time. Considering their suggestions, future work involves incorporating a student-facing dashboard in this web-based application

Curriculum analytics adoption in higher education: A multiple case study engaging stakeholders in different phases of design

Early View - Online Version of Record before inclusion in an issueInternational audienceSeveral studies have indicated that stakeholder engagement could ensure the successful adoption of learning analytics (LA). Considering that researchers and tech developers may not be aware of how LA tools can derive meaningful and actionable information for everyday use, these studies suggest that participatory approaches based on human‐centred design can provide stakeholders with the opportunity to influence decision‐making during tool development. So far, there is a growing consensus about the importance of identifying stakeholders' needs and expectations in early stages, so researchers and developers can design systems that resonate with their users. However, human‐centred LA is a growing sub‐field, so further empirical work is needed to understand how stakeholders can contribute effectively to the design process and the adoption strategy of analytical tools. To illustrate mechanisms to engage various stakeholders throughout different phases of a design process, this paper presents a multiple case study conducted in different Latin American universities. A series of studies inform the development of an analytical tool to support continuous curriculum improvement, aiming to improve student learning and programme quality. Yet, these studies differ in scope and design stage, so they use different mechanisms to engage students, course instructors and institutional administrators. By cross analysing the findings of these three cases, three conclusions emerged for each design phase of a CA tool, presenting mechanisms to ensure stakeholder adoption after tool development. Further implications of this multiple case study are discussed from a theoretical and methodological perspective. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic? Human‐centred learning analytics (LA) has accommodated different configurations of stakeholder engagement, including co‐design and participatory design. Participatory design provides developers with a wide variety of techniques to engage a particular group in a mutual learning process. Most studies mainly focus on engaging stakeholders to identify needs in the early stages of the design process. More empirical works are needed to unveil the effectiveness of human centredness during LA design and after tool development. What this paper adds? Provides a multiple case study to illustrate mechanisms to engage various stakeholders in different design phases of a curriculum analytics (CA) tool. Summarises different assertions based on case study findings regarding needs for analytical tool, its early evaluation and its potential use after development. Provides empirical evidence on how to promote stakeholder engagement at a specific design stage and for a specific purpose. The implications for practitioners LA researchers and developers can use assertions based on evidence as a starting point to drive the design process of CA solutions. Researchers and practitioners will have a set of protocols to implement participatory techniques in different design phases of a CA tool

MOOCs as a remedial complement: Students’ adoption and learning outcomes

International audienceThe effectiveness of remedial mathematics courses in post-secondary education has been a controversial topic for years. Higher Education institutions need their students to have basic understandings of the subjects to be imparted in the first semesters, but since they come with different backgrounds and prior knowledge, this is not always possible and many students struggle in their first courses. This paper presents the results of students' adoption and learning outcomes of using four MOOCs as a complementary study resource for an on-campus calculus diagnostic exam. Over 700 newly admitted university students had to take a mandatory diagnostic exam on four calculus topics before classes started. MOOCs were proposed as a voluntary support for studying these subjects. Following a mixed method analysis, we studied why and when the students used the online courses and we also measured the effects of its use in terms of the students' diagnostic exam grades and learning outcomes. The results show that students mostly used the MOOCs to study the subjects that were not covered in their secondary studies. Students who were active in these course topics obtained better scores, having more chances of passing the diagnostic exam than students who did not study with the MOOCs. Furthermore, students not only used the MOOCs for studying for the exam, but also for refreshing concepts for future courses

Building institutional capacity for learning analytics: top-down & bottom-up initiatives

Capacity building for Learning Analytics (LA) in Higher Education Institutions requires the coordination of organizational aspects and infrastructure development. This also depends on the organizational maturity of the institution and its leadership regarding LA adoption. LA capacity building can follow two approaches: (1) top-down, led by institutional managers; and (2) bottom-up, led by ground-level staff. This article studies two LA initiatives of each type conducted in the same institution to compare the deployment of organizational processes and infrastructure. The lessons learned that were captured from each approach are shared to inform other universities in Latin America on developing LA capabilities

Analyzing Learners’ Perception of Indicators in Student-Facing Analytics: A Card Sorting Approach

International audienceMany studies have explored using different indicators to support students' self-monitoring. This has motivated the development of student-facing analytics, such as dashboards and chatbots. However, there is a limited understanding of how learners interpret these indicators and act on that information. This study evaluates different indicators from a student perspective by adapting the card sorting technique, which is employed in Human-Centered Design. We chose eight indicators based on different comparative reference frames from the literature to create 16 cards to present both a visual and a text representation per indicator. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from 21 students of three majors at two Latin American universities. According to the quantitative results, students' agreement level about the indicators' interpretability and actionability was relatively low. Nonetheless, the indicators that included temporality were found to be less interpretable but more actionable than those that did not. The analysis indicates that several students would use this information to improve their study habits only if their performance in the course is lower than expected. These findings might be used as a starting point to design student-facing analytics. Also, adapting the card sorting technique could be replicated to understand learners' use of indicators in other TEL contexts