The Spectrum of Learning Analytics

Abstract

"Learning Analytics" became a buzzword during the hype surrounding the advent of "big data" MOOCs, however, the concept has been around for over two decades. When the first online courses became available it was used as a tool to increase student success in particular courses, frequently combined with the hope of conducting educational research. In recent years, the same term started to be used on the institutional level to increase retention and decrease time-to-degree. These two applications, within particular courses on the one hand and at the institutional level on the other, are at the two extremes of the spectrum of Learning Analytics – and they frequently appear to be worlds apart. The survey describes affordances, theories and approaches in these two categories.