The Learning Analytics Project (2017-2020) took an evidence-informed approach to improving learning and the student experience by investigating how data and learning analytics tools could support students, instructors, and advisors in enhancing teaching and learning.
The project focused on three inter-related areas of activity:
- Engaging the UBC community,
- Exploring the ethical issues regarding the use of learning data, and
- Iteratively developing the technical and solution architecture needed at UBC.
Community Engagement
The project aimed to empower students, faculty members, and departments with analytics to support teaching, learning, student success, and program planning. The project also endeavoured to facilitate the development of a community of faculty members who were actively engaged in learning analytics. Opportunities to get involved with learning analytics included tool pilots, workshops, hackathons, and student consultations.
Ethics and Policy
As part of the project, the Learning Data Committee was established as a data steward for learning data. The committee explored ethical and privacy issues regarding the use of student data and authored Learning Analytics at UBC: Purpose and Principles. The committee established governance processes, reviewed data access requests, and provided guidance to the project team. The committee continues to guide learning analytics as part of the Learning Technology Hub’s governance.
Technical and Solutions Architecture
A key component of the project was focused on supporting tool pilots and delivering the technical infrastructure needed to collect, process, store and provide access to learning data. The project was an early adopter of cloud services at UBC, using cloud services to build a learning record store and establish a learning data infrastructure.