Last week I attended the 3rd ACM Learning Analytics and Knowledge conference (LAK13) in Leuven, Belgium. Beautiful city and gorgeous beer aside the 3 day conference and 2 days of workshops were a productive and interesting space and a great networking opportunity. Because it’s a bit closer to my area, and I’ve moved on since Texas, in terms of specific outputs and thinking that took place I’m going to save it for posts specifically related to my work (or, for the thesis) but here’s some general thoughts on the whole week.
My take home messages:
- “We should all be philosophers” John Beherens said (so it must be
true)
- There is a real epistemological interest in the community re: research methods, student epistemic practices such as credibility checking, and what it means for people to ‘know’ content/skills in educational contexts (good job too as this was what Simon Karen and I wrote our paper on – epistemology, pedagogy, assessment and learning analytics)
- There is also a real interest in pedagogy – what systems fit well with LA (-ve/+ve impact); how can pedagogy be responsive in light of student data; how do we measure engagement/learning/collaboration/quality, etc.
- Plenty of people are also working within current systems, looking at analytics to support and improve the current models, including in moocs – and that’s an entirely pragmatically sensible thing to do, I’d hate for us to forget about the ‘foundational’ element, but we also need to work on what we’ve got, particularly where there are obvious ways to do so and have an impact (although we shouldn’t forget to say “we’ve improved outcomes…but are these really the outcomes we want to improve” where appropriate)
- Methodologically there are fascinating things going on and incredibly impressive developments – people are using some fairly low tech stuff to good effect, and really pushing at boundaries in other respects. That said, having been to CSCW I also would’ve loved to bring some of more of the people there to LAK – Wikipedia and mediawiki work have such obvious potential in LA, but haven’t been used much so far, cscw people were doing amazing things with it so it’d be cool to have some of that activity in LAK too. Similarly there were a few language processing tools from CSCW with possible LAK application (although there’s also really cool work going on in the community on that area for sure). Some new developments I’d guess won’t be from new techniques, but new (and integrated) applications.
LAK13 Experience
Personally I was particularly pleased to meet some people I’ve only met online, and to meet some people working in somewhat similar areas to me on epistemic practices including Golnaz Arastoopour (who aside from anything else, we can thank for the much improved appearance of my blog…at time of writing 😉 ) and David Williamson Shaffer (her supervisor) who work on ‘epistemic games‘ at University of Wisconsin-Madison – I’m hoping to pay a visit in the not too distant future to talk about the discourse analytics they’ve developed and its potential application in collaborative information seeking contexts :-).
My Papers
This was also a particularly important conference for me as I had workshop paper: Discourse, Computation and Context – Sociocultural DCLA Revisited (presentation on slideshare with audio); and full paper (with best paper nomination): Epistemology, Pedagogy, Assessment, and Learning Analytics (presentation on slideshare, video to follow). Both papers seemed well received – although in hindsight I would have framed the first slightly differently in the presentation – and I’ve finally broken out of my awful habit of presenting minimalistic plain text on black backgrounds.
OU Representation at LAK13
The OU was well represented with involvement in (not necessarily lead involvement) at least 7 papers at the full conference (apologies if I’ve missed any) including the ‘best paper’ nominated paper Simon, Karen and I wrote, and plenty more at the workshops. Those papers are below. That meant we had probably around 10 attendees, which must’ve made us one of the best represented university (although Stanford certainly had quite a few too, and I’m sure other places too).
**Time: **2013-04-10 12:00-12:30
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**Authors: ** Mathieu D’Aquin Nicolas Jay
ACM
Link: ^327
**Tags: ** data mining linked data leaning analytics course enrolment sequence mining interpretation sequential analytics sequence enrollment ou
**Abstract: **Learning Analytics by nature relies on computational information processing activities intended to e…
**Time: **2013-04-10 16:15-16:36
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**Authors: ** Annika Wolff Zdenek Zdrahal Andriy Nikolov Michal Pantucek
ACM
Link: ^324
**Tags: ** predictive modelling retention student data virtual learning environment distance learning vle dm ou
**Abstract: **One of the key interests for learning analytics is how it can be used to improve retention. This pap…
**Time: **2013-04-10 16:36-17:00
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MOOCs and the Funnel of Participation
**Authors: ** Doug Clow
ACM
Link: ^332
**Tags: ** learning analytics participation academic mooc moocs analytics massive open online courses massive open online courses ou
**Abstract: **Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) are growing substantially in numbers, and also in interest from …
**Time: **2013-04-11 10:45-11:15
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An evaluation of policy frameworks for addressing ethical considerations in learning analytics
**Authors: ** Paul Prinsloo Sharon Slade
ACM
Link: ^344
**Tags: ** learning analytics policy ethics distance learning policy distance learning policy framework data privacy informed consent data governance ou
**Abstract: **Higher education institutions have collected and analysed student data for years, although the purpo…
**Time: **2013-04-11 15:15-15:45
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Epistemology, Pedagogy, Assessment and Learning Analytics
**Authors: ** Simon Knight Simon Buckingham Shum Karen Littleton
ACM
Link: ^312
**Tags: ** assessment learning analytics educational assessment pedagogy la epistemology discourse analytics social learning analytics discourse analysis sociocultural ou
**Abstract: **There is a well-established literature examining the relationships between epistemology (the nature …
**Time: **2013-04-11 15:45-16:15
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An Evaluation of Learning Analytics To Identify Exploratory Dialogue in Online Discussions
**Authors: ** Rebecca Ferguson Zhongyu Wei Yulan He Simon Buckingham Shum
ACM
Link: ^313
**Tags: ** social dialogue learning analytics educational assessment discourse analytics computational linguistics cue-phrase matching educational dialogue exploratory dialogue k-nearest neighbour maxent discourse_analytics computational linguistics ou
**Abstract: **Social learning analytics are concerned with the process of knowledge construction as learners build…
**Time: **2013-04-12 12:20-12:40
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Visualizing Social Learning Ties by Type and Topic: Rationale and Concept Demonstrator
**Authors: ** Bieke Schreurs Chris Teplovs Rebecca Ferguson Maarten De Laat Simon Buckingham Shum
ACM
Link: ^305
**Tags: ** social-network visualization visualisation sna social network analysis social network analy social learning analytics networked learning social_network_analysis social learning analytics network analytics social learning analytics network awareness tool ou
**Abstract: **Social Learning Analytics (SLA) are designed to support students learning through social networks, a…
My Schedule
This is more for my own records than anyone else’s interest…sorry, but I (scheduled at least) to attend the below talks:
2013-04-10 09:00-10:15
Keynote: Marsha Lovett
Type: Keynote
38 attending >>
2013-04-10 10:40-11:30
Session after keynote with Marsha Lovett
Type: Discussion
1 attending >>
2013-04-10 12:00-12:30
Interpreting Data Mining Results with Linked Data for
Learning Analytics: Motivation, Case Study and Directions
Sequence analytics
Type: Full research paper
ACM
Link: ^327
19 attending >>
2013-04-10 12:30-13:00
Nanogenetic Learning Analytics: Illuminating Student Learning Pathways in an Online Fraction Game
Sequence analytics
Type: Short paper
ACM
Link: ^328
12 attending >>
2013-04-10 13:45-14:15
Multidisciplinarity vs. Multivocality, the case of “Learning Analytics”
Multi-discplinarity of LAK
Type: Full research paper
ACM
Link: ^299
32 attending >>
2013-04-10 13:45-14:15
STEMscopes: Contextualizing Learning Analytics in a K-12 Science Curriculum
Supporting teachers
Type: Full research paper
ACM
Link: ^339
15 attending >>
2013-04-10 14:15-15:15
Panel: The New Breed of Educational Data Scientists
Panel: The New Breed of Educational Data Scientists
Type: Panel
3 attending >>
2013-04-10 14:15-14:45
Supporting Action Research with Learning Analytics
Supporting teachers
Type: Full research paper
ACM
Link: ^340
22 attending >>
2013-04-10 14:45-15:15
A case study inside Virtual Worlds: use of analytics for immersive spaces
Supporting teachers
Type: Short paper
ACM
Link: ^341
11 attending >>
2013-04-10 15:45-16:15
Predictive analytics
Type: Full research paper
ACM
Link: ^323
17 attending >>
2013-04-10 16:15-16:36
Predictive analytics
Type: Short paper
ACM
Link: ^324
23 attending >>
2013-04-10 16:36-17:00
MOOCs and the Funnel of Participation
MOOCs
Type: Short paper
ACM
Link: ^332
13 attending >>
2013-04-10 17:00-18:30
A model for reflective sensemaking: Implementing Cohere in courses
Poster session and demos
Type: Posters and informal demos
6 attending >>
2013-04-10 17:00-18:30
iKNEER: Interactive System to Assess and Visualize Relational and Epistemic Networks
Poster session and demos
Type: Posters and informal demos
3 attending >>
2013-04-11 09:00-10:15
Keynote: Abelardo Pardo
Type: Keynote
20 attending >>
2013-04-11 10:45-11:15
Analysis of Writing Processes Using Revision Maps and Probabilistic Topic Models
Communication and collaboration
Type: Full research paper
ACM
Link: ^307
13 attending >>
2013-04-11 11:15-11:45
Learning Analytics for Online Discussions: A
Pedagogical Model for Intervention with Embedded and Extracted
Analytics
Communication and collaboration
Type: Full research paper
ACM
Link: ^308
18 attending >>
2013-04-11 11:45-12:15
Understanding Promotions in a case study of student blogging
Communication and collaboration
Type: Full research paper
ACM
Link: ^309
9 attending >>
2013-04-11 13:15-14:15
Panel: Crafting Transformative Strategies for Personalized Learning/Analytics
Panel: Crafting Transformative Strategies for Personalized Learning/Analytics
Type: Panel
ACM
Link: ^354
3 attending >>
2013-04-11 14:45-15:15
Analyzing the Flow of Ideas and Profiles of Contributors in an Open Learning Community
Discourse analytics
Type: Full research paper
ACM
Link: ^311
14 attending >>
2013-04-11 15:15-15:45
Epistemology, Pedagogy, Assessment and Learning Analytics
Discourse analytics
Type: Full research paper
ACM
Link: ^312
31 attending >>
2013-04-11 15:45-16:15
An Evaluation of Learning Analytics To Identify Exploratory Dialogue in Online Discussions
Discourse analytics
Type: Full research paper
ACM
Link: ^313
16 attending >>
2013-04-11 16:45-18:15
Panel: Recent and Desired Future Trends in Learning Analytics Research
Panel: Recent and Desired Future Trends in Learning Analytics Research
Type: Panel
3 attending >>
2013-04-12 09:00-10:15
POLAR: Perspectives on Learning Analytics Research
Session
Type: Keynote
21 attending >>
2013-04-12 10:40-11:10
Affect analytics
Type: Full research paper
ACM
Link: ^320
11 attending >>
2013-04-12 12:00-12:20
From Micro to Macro – Analyzing Activity in the ROLE Sandbox
Analytic Architectures
Type: Short paper
ACM
Link: ^347
7 attending >>
2013-04-12 12:00-12:20
Considering Formal Assessment in Learning Analytics within a PLE: The HOU2LEARN Case
Social network analysis and visualization
Type: Short paper
ACM
Link: ^304
5 attending >>
2013-04-12 12:20-12:40
Visualizing Social Learning Ties by Type and Topic: Rationale and Concept Demonstrator
Social network analysis and visualization
Type: Short paper
ACM
Link: ^305
11 attending >>
2013-04-12 12:20-12:40
Analytics of collaborative planning in Metafora – architecture, data, and analytic methods
Analytic Architectures
Type: Short paper
ACM
Link: ^348
3 attending >>