A4 Venture
The Venture
This is an open, online course in learning analytics; from the syllabus: “Learning and Knowledge Analytics 2011 is a conceptual and exploratory introduction to the role of analytics in learning and knowledge development. Most of the topics do not require advanced statistical methods or technical skills. Topics covered during the six-week course will introduce participants to a systemic and integrated view of analytics”.
The Need
As computers and technology allow for us to collect more and more information, there must be training and research that goes into understanding this new breadth of data. This online course contributes to building professionals that are able to interpret and find trends in the data.
Audience and Procedure
Anyone interested in online learning, education, or learning in general. This includes students, teachers, administrators, developers, etc. This course is completed online through participant interaction and by using the analytics tools.
Opportunities and Challenges
Because this course is open and asynchronous, there is a huge opportunity for interaction and contribution from around the world. One of the challenges is also due to the open nature– there is no accountability in the users that will insist on participation.
As a final comment, I found this was similar to the week on PBA in that the product in this case was the service of training to use the tool.
Cheers,
Kristopher
Posted in: Week 12: Social Analytics
Deb Kim 10:12 pm on November 24, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Kristopher,
I agree with you that “there must be training and research that goes into understanding this new breadth of data”. As there are many limitations of social analytics, we educators and students, or audience in general require time to digest what social analytics are and what they do before using it. As it says in the Week 12 blog, “social analytics requres skillful analysts to statistically test findings to determine their significance, and to offer meaningful interpretations and explanations of them”. It took a while for me to understand what social analytics is. Although I understand what it is now, I still don’t see it very useful. In a teacher’s perspective, it would be useful for assessing students’ performances. But in a student’s perspective, I’m concerned about privacy issues that come with it. I personally feel uncomfortable that other people see my performance.
Deb