The Ethical Issues of Learning Analytics in Their Historical Context

Abstract

The ethical context of Learning Analytics is framed by two related processes. Firstly, the amount of personal data available to organisations has been transformed by the computerisation and the subsequent development of the Internet. Secondly, the methods and ethical assumptions of Operations Research have been extended into new areas. Learning Analytics can be conceptualised as the extension of Operations Research methods to educational institutions, in a process facilitated by technological and social changes in the early twenty-first century. It is argued that the ethical discourse has viewed Learning Analytics as a discrete field, and focused on its internal processes, at the expense of its connections with the wider social context. As a result, contradictions arise in the practice of research ethics, and a number of urgent issues are not given due consideration. These include the partial erosion of the consensus around the Nuremberg code; the use of ethical waivers for quality improvement; the coercive extraction of data; the use of analytics as an enabling technology for management; and the educational implications of the relationship between surveillance and trust. Ethics and Learning AnalyticsAs a first step in considering the ethical context in which Learning Analytics (LA) is carried out, it is necessary to discuss the declared purpose and modus operandi of the field. Writing at an early stage in the development of LA, Long and Siemens, two of the principal actors in the field, explained the rationale for the development of LA, arguing that research indicates that "data-driven decision-making improves organizational output and productivity", and that education is falling behind other fields in this respect.Higher education, a field that gathers an astonishing array of data about its "customers," has traditionally been inefficient in its data use, …. Organizational processes-such as planning and resource allocation-often fail to utilize large amounts of data on effective learning

Pedagogías emergentes en ambientes virtuales de aprendizaje

“…La ética como reflexión profunda sobre la moral, sobre lo que habitualmente hacemos, pero reconociendo que se hace con una intencionalidad muy clara, con la idea de perfeccionar aquello que ya tenemos entre manos. En este ejercicio de pensar, de debatir, de ser críticos , desde una crítica argumentada, surge la necesidad de plantearse el uso y la apropiación de las TIC como herramientas cognitivas en los procesos de aprendizaje (Griffiths, 2020;Overstreet, 2016;Tracy & Carmichael, 2013). La palabra ética originalmente significa "madriguera", el entorno toma las características de la persona, su forma, su aroma, su manera de moverse, su manera de ser.…”

Students' expectations of Learning Analytics across Europe

“…We thus aim to address the need for research on individual perceptions of privacy principles across countries (Botnevik et al, 2020) and to explore how LA implementation guidelines (Scheffel et al, 2022) and best practices can successfully be transferred to other HEIs. Several factors, such as a focus on distance learning, private or public funding, and different historical background in terms of privacy (Griths, 2020), distinguish these HEIs and make their students unique. We argue that these factors might influence students' expectations of LA, whose differences need to be considered.…”

“…We can thus differentiate between what students may find appealing and what they may, for various reasons, not expect to happen in reality(Whitelock-Wainwright et al, 2019, 2020.…”

A reflective design case of practical micro‐ethics in learning analytics

“… 5 5 On first enrolling and logging into IT systems, students agree to a privacy statement that in 2015 included the line: “information, including data automatically generated through my access to and use of [the LMS], may also be used to provide me support and may be assessed so that additional services and facilities can be offered to me to support my studies. Analysis of de­identified information may also be used to inform UTS quality improvement initiatives.” For a detailed discussion of these statements, informed consent, and the nature of operational vs research ethics, see Griffiths (2020). …”

“…Analysis of de identified information may also be used to inform UTS quality improvement initiatives." For a detailed discussion of these statements, informed consent, and the nature of operational vs research ethics, seeGriffiths (2020).6 Having reviewed the publication policies and Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidance, we believe that while it is acceptable for us to share this example, a strict interpretation of copyright is typically applied to reviewer reports, hence we refrain from direct quote here.…”