At Austrian universities teaching and learning environments rapidly evolved since at least the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Teaching and learning was converted online and is currently held mostly hybrid. The use of artificial intelligence is supposed to support students in optimizing their learning behavior to better manage their studies. However, ethical and data protection principles must be considered as well.
Learning Analytics Dashboard supports students
For the project “Learning Analytics – Studierende im Fokus“, an interdisciplinary research team of the Graz University of Technology, University of Graz, and the University of Vienna focus on developing learning analytics applications that leverage students academic success. The researchers took a human-centred Learning Analytics design approach involving students, instructors and other stakeholders in the iterative process of developing and evaluating the applications. The Learner’s Corner is the new dashboard for students at the TUGraz learning management system, which showcase the developed LA applications. The Learner’s Corner dashboard helps students prepare for their courses, keep track of their progress, and reflect on their learning processes. In addition, they provide exciting features for lecturers and facilitate interactions with students. The dashboard is currently being evaluated in a few selected courses and will be offered as a LA service to the whole students’ community in the near future.
Students as data providers?
Researchers from the University of Graz, Graz University of Technology and Know-Center published a short paper on the following topic as part of the project: “Learning Analytics as a Service for Empowered Learners“. They addressed the ethical and legal concerns related to learning analytics and the application of educational data for higher education institutions in particular. In the future, for example, how can ‘LA’ be seen as a service rather than an intrusion when it comes to the unsolicited use of students’ personal data? The paper was nominated for the “Best Short Paper Award” at the Learning Analytics & Knowledge Conference 2021.