Perceptions and expectations about learning analytics from a brazilian higher education institution

Abstract

Several tools to support learning processes based on educational data have emerged from research on Learning Analytics (LA) in the last few years. These tools aim to support students and instructors in daily activities, and academic managers in making institutional decisions. Although the adoption of LA tools is spreading, the field still needs to deepen the understanding of the contexts where learning takes place, and of the views of the stakeholders involved in implementing and using these tools. In this sense, the SHEILA framework proposes a set of instruments to perform a detailed analysis of the expectations and needs of different stakeholders in higher education institutions, regarding the adoption of LA. Moreover, there is a lacuna in research on stakeholders' expectations from LA outside the Global North. Therefore, this paper reports on the findings of the application of interviews and focus groups, based on the SHEILA framework, with students and teaching staff from a Brazilian public university, to investigate their perceptions of the potential benefits and risks of using LA in higher education in the country. Findings indicate that there is a high interest in using LA for improving the learning experience, in particular, being able to provide personalized feedback, to adapt teaching practices to students' needs, and to make evidence-based pedagogical decisions. From the analysis of these perspectives, we point to opportunities for using LA in Brazilian higher education.

Applications of Learning Analytics in High Schools: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Our review did not reveal papers suggesting the analysis of school context, which is considered a critical activity to ensure successful learning analytics adoption (Gasevic et al, 2019;Falcão et al, 2020;Tsai et al, 2021a). In general, the papers retrieved in this review did not include the stakeholders in the process of creating analytic models, tools, and systems, even the ones focusing on supporting teachers (Michailidis et al, 2017).…”

“…For instance, Tsai et al (2018) proposed SHEILA, a framework that guides higher education institutions in adoption of learning analytics by providing relevant instruments for involvement of relevant stakeholders and by documenting actions taken, policy questions, and challenges commonly experienced by institutions. SHEILA has widely been used across the world ( Maldonado-Mahauad et al, 2018 ; Broos et al, 2020 ; Falcão et al, 2020 ; Vigentini et al, 2020 )). Therefore, SHEILA or similar frameworks could be used as a good starting point to understand the needs of high schools regarding learning analytics.…”

Learning analytics stakeholders' expectations in higher education institutions: a literature review

“…Faculty expectations were investigated in a number of studies as shown in Table 3. Falcão et al (2020) used the supporting higher education to integrate learning analytics (SHEILA) framework as a tool to analyse stakeholders' expectations and needs in detail in terms of adoption of LA. The study used 12 interviews and 7 focus groups with students and instructors.…”

“…On the other hand, faculty have expressed their positive perception of LA from their point of view as it offered them the following advantages: self-evaluation, teaching practise improvement, students' progress tracking and determination of students' needs (West et al, 2016;Falcão et al, 2020). Despite the positive attitude towards LA, studies have also articulated the challenges that HEIs face from the stakeholders' perspective.…”

“…From the experts' view, lack of resources and technical aspects and culture affects the provision of LA (Ifenthaler and Yau, 2019;Stelmaszak and Aaltonen, 2018). In addition, teaching staff have indicated that lack of trustworthiness, integration, accurate and timely data, clear visualisation and lack of accessibility affected implementation (Klein et al, 2019;Falcão et al, 2020). Accordingly, it could be concluded that awareness and perception of LA is affected by resources, technical skills, trustworthiness, data availability, accessibility, organisational culture, integrationand technological infrastructure as shown in Table 6.…”