An exercise in institutional reflection

Abstract

While the landscape of learning analytics is relatively well defined, the extent to which institutions are ready to embark on an analytics implementation is less known. Further, while work has been done on measuring the maturity of an institution's implementation, this work fails to investigate how an institution that has not implemented analytics to date might become mature over time. To that end, the authors developed and piloted a survey, the Learning Analytics Readiness Instrument (LARI), in an attempt to help institutions successfully prepare themselves for a successfully analytics implementation. The LARI is comprised of 90 items encompassing five factors related to a learning analytics implementation: (1) Ability, (2) Data, (3) Culture and Process, (4) Governance and Infrastructure, and, (5) Overall Readiness Perception. Each of the five factors has a high internal consistency, as does the overall tool. This paper discusses the need for a survey such as the LARI, the tool's psychometric properties, the authors' broad interpretations of the findings, and next steps for the LARI and the research in this field.

The learning analytics readiness instrument

“…The Learning Analytics Readiness Instrument (LARI) [1] was created to address the space between the various inventories of analytics tools available and the EDUCAUSE Maturity Index [3], which measures the extent to which institutions have implemented analytics systems. These inventories simply informed institutions about what could be used while the Maturity Index assumed that institutions had an analytics system in place.…”

“…These resources left an important gap: a diagnostic tool that could inform administrators about the various components required of analytics systems that should be in place and/or considered to ensure as strong an implementation as possible. Arnold, Lonn, and Pistilli [1] combined their experiences working with various systems and institutions with their individual research on the field and began to narrow a list of requirements that would help ensure that learning analytics, when used at an institution, could reach its potential and desired effects. The original (alpha; [1]) analysis of the tool and its outcomes indicated that the LARI had a promising future, but required a deeper analysis at scale and additional specificity for participating institutions.…”

“…Arnold, Lonn, and Pistilli [1] combined their experiences working with various systems and institutions with their individual research on the field and began to narrow a list of requirements that would help ensure that learning analytics, when used at an institution, could reach its potential and desired effects. The original (alpha; [1]) analysis of the tool and its outcomes indicated that the LARI had a promising future, but required a deeper analysis at scale and additional specificity for participating institutions. After completing the alpha analysis, the team continued to refine the tool and developed a beta version.…”

“…This study aims to address this gap in the literature by using survey data from the beta version of the Learning Analytics Readiness Instrument (LARI) [1]. Twenty-four institutions were surveyed and 560 respondents participated.…”

The Role of a Reference Synthetic Data Generator within the Field of Learning Analytics.

“…A communication tool such as the learning analytics readiness instrument (LARI), a survey to measure institutional readiness would have helped us to understand and communicate where to focus our efforts (Arnold, Lonn, & Pistilli, 2014). However, the UvAInform pilots were a necessary precursor to developing an institutional culture of greater data-driven decision making.…”