Capacity Enablers and Barriers for Learning Analytics: Implications for Policy and Practice
Learning analytics, as defined in this report, is “the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs.” This report describes learning analytics initiatives that are taking place in states and districts that are helping them move from being data collectors to being data analyzers, enabling them to use the vast amount of information being collected in a secure, practical, customized, and predictive system. The effective use of learning analytics can be used to create personalized learning for all students and inform teaching and learning.
Those interested in data use and learning analytics will likely find the executive summary of this resource adequate for their needs. The content of the longer paper contains extensive quotes from other sources that are of a general nature and somewhat self-evident. The resource is nicely designed, although it could be improved by much tighter editing and shorter sentences. The policy recommendations could be helpful, especially those targeted at specific groups, such as states, districts, administrators, and educators.