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This paper presents a study on security and privacy concerns in E-learning. The study has been conducted along with our research effort that focuses on tracking students' activities on Computer-Mediated Communication tools (e.g. discussion forum, blog, wiki, etc.). It aims to express our attention on technical and ethical aspects of using tracking approach in the learning process. While the study covers an analysis of some existing research data of security in E-learning and user privacy protection provisions, it helps us gain a broader perspective of utilizing the tracking approach in our research. The major contribution of this paper is awareness-raising of the relevant issues, which are often neglected in the research efforts that implicate user tracking and personal data usage for instructional purposes.

Purpose -Keeping track of users' communication activities in web-based environments has always been considered a complex task. It requires tracking systems that are capable of efficiently tracking users' activities and producing tracking data that can be useful to various users. The objectives of this paper are two-fold: to present an approach for better observing the different levels of human and computer interactions (HCI) during a computer-mediated communication (CMC) activity; and to present the technical aspects of a web-based tracking system for communication tools such as discussion forums. Design/methodology/approach -The research applications are applied to educational settings. Three cases of experiments with result analysis will also be presented. The paper studied different CMC tools. With the participation of researchers from different disciplines, including HCI and e-learning specialists, we adopted the 5W1H method (When, Where, Who, What, Why, and How) and a participative method to build the approach. The result of the experiments and users' feedback allowed us to evaluate the approach. Findings -An approach for efficiently tracking users' communication activities on CMC tools, by looking very closely at the different levels of HCI is shown. This paper demonstrates how useful it is to have tracking data with finer granularity and to provide significant data indicators to the participants in the learning process. Practical implications -The data indicators shown in this paper are computed based on the real needs of the participants in the learning process. The proposed approach can be implemented with any conceptual and development languages. Originality/value -One of the particularities of this research is the approach for efficiently tracking CMC activities on both client and server sides. The quality of the tracking data from the three experiments shows the effectiveness of the system. Another contribution of this paper is a discussion of the important key issues related to the tracking data in learning environments.

Purpose-This paper presents a part of our research work that places an emphasis on Tracking Data Analysis and Visualization (TrAVis) tools, a web-based system, designed to enhance online tutoring and learning activities, supported by computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools. TrAVis is particularly dedicated to assist both tutors and students in the task of exploiting tracking data of communication activities throughout the learning process. This paper focuses on the technical aspects of TrAVis, the visualization of students' tracking data and the experiment we have conducted in an authentic learning situation. Design/methodology/approach-A mixture of iterative and participative approaches has been adopted for the design of TrAVis. Different versions of TrAVis were built during the progress of our research. The major changes in each build have particularly involved the conceptual design of data indicators of students' activities and the visualization techniques of the data indicators. Both case studies and experiments have been made to evaluate TrAVis. Findings-This paper demonstrates how TrAVis provides a new experience in visualizing and analyzing students' tracking data. While it shows the originality and novelty of the system, it also reveals the potential benefits of TrAVis to both tutors and students in their online tutoring and learning activities. Research limitations/implications-The result from the experiment is not sufficient to evaluate some specific aspects of TrAVis. As a matter of fact, the lack of user's feedback did not enable us to justify whether or not the proposed data indicators would be actually used by the users. Practical implications-The data indicators shown in this paper are computed based on the real needs of the participants in the learning process. Online questionnaires were used and face-to-face interviews have been made to study the needs of the users throughout this research work. Originality/value-One of the particularities of this research is the proposed system, TrAVis, objectively designed to better support the tutors in the tasks of monitoring and evaluating students on CMC tools. Plus, TrAVis is distinguished from the existing systems by its capacity in computing substantial data indicators, allowing the tutors to efficiently visualize and analyze both the process and the product of students' activities.