A2 Week 12
Hi all,
There is a huge potential for design practices with learning and social analytics. I found it interesting the connection between analytics and assessment for learning; as educators, we are constantly assessing our students for the purpose of improving learning. This is ongoing, can be formal or informal, and much of what we receive is subjective. What if we were able to look at this a lot more objectively? Not only what we see with out own eyes, but instead everything that the learner is experiencing is reported back to us? That would be an incredible tool for learning.
The challenge or pitfall is believing that somehow that could replace our own ongoing assessments and the capabilities of the human brain. We sense a lot more then what is clicked.
Thoughts?
Cheers,
Kristopher
Posted in: Week 12: Social Analytics
Allie 10:43 am on November 23, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I definitely agree that the danger lies in thinking of these analytics as an ‘answer’ rather than one tool in a box. One of the worrying things for me with some of the analytics tools is how easily they can fit into the ‘no child left behind’ mode of assessing student, teacher and school performance. We wanted to include the Klout example because it does demonstrate how analytics isn’t the appropriate tool for measuring all kinds of social and qualitative things.
I thought that this week’s focus forms such a stark contrast to project-based assessments from a couple weeks back. They’re apparently so contrasting that i’m tempted to ferret out the points of contact between them.
Everton Walker 5:06 pm on November 24, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Allie,
Interesting post comparing the two. We accepted PBA with opened arms but now we are having concerns about learning analytics. I just think we need to be more open-minded when embracing new ventures while ensuring that personal and critical information is protected.
Everton