Ethics is a prominent topic in learning analytics that has been commented on from conceptual viewpoints. For a broad range of emerging technologies, systematic literature reviews have proven fruitful by pinpointing research directions, knowledge gaps, and future research work guidance. With these outcomes in mind, we conducted a systematic literature review of the research on ethical issues that have been empirically approached in the learning analytics literature. In our final analysis, 21 articles published in the period 2014–2019 met our inclusion criteria. By analyzing this data, we seek to contribute to the field of learning analytics by 1) characterizing the type of empirical research that has been conducted on ethics in learning analytics in the context of higher education, 2) identifying the main ethical areas addressed in the selected literature, and 3) pinpointing knowledge gaps.

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Understanding students' privacy concerns is an essential first step toward effective privacy‐enhancing practices in learning analytics (LA). In this study, we develop and validate a model to explore the students' privacy concerns (SPICE) regarding LA practice in higher education. The SPICE model considers privacy concerns as a central construct between two antecedents—perceived privacy risk and perceived privacy control, and two outcomes—trusting beliefs and non‐self‐disclosure behaviours. To validate the model, data through an online survey were collected, and 132 students from three Swedish universities participated in the study. Partial least square results show that the model accounts for high variance in privacy concerns, trusting beliefs, and non‐self‐disclosure behaviours. They also illustrate that students' perceived privacy risk is a firm predictor of their privacy concerns. The students' privacy concerns and perceived privacy risk were found to affect their non‐self‐disclosure behaviours. Finally, the results show that the students' perceptions of privacy control and privacy risks determine their trusting beliefs. The study results contribute to understand the relationships between students' privacy concerns, trust and non‐self‐disclosure behaviours in the LA context. A set of relevant implications for LA systems' design and privacy‐enhancing practices' development in higher education is offered. What is already known about this topic Addressing students' privacy is critical for large‐scale learning analytics (LA) implementation. Understanding students' privacy concerns is an essential first step to developing effective privacy‐enhancing practices in LA. Several conceptual, not empirically validated frameworks focus on ethics and privacy in LA. What this paper adds The paper offers a validated model to explore the nature of students' privacy concerns in LA in higher education. It provides an enhanced theoretical understanding of the relationship between privacy concerns, trust and self‐disclosure behaviour in the LA context of higher education. It offers a set of relevant implications for LA researchers and practitioners. Implications for practice and/or policy Students' perceptions of privacy risks and privacy control are antecedents of students' privacy concerns, trust in the higher education institution and the willingness to share personal information. Enhancing students' perceptions of privacy control and reducing perceptions of privacy risks are essential for LA adoption and success. Contextual factors that may influence students' privacy concerns should be considered.

In this paper, we argue that in order to gain a deeper understanding of collaborative mobile learning in schools, it is important to know not only how mobile devices affect collaborative learning but also how collaborative learning emerges and is mediated by these devices. We develop our argument by applying the instrumental genesis theory and the collective instrumented activities and situations model for the analysis of learners' collaborative learning in the tablet‐mediated classroom. This analysis is grounded in data collected in four elementary Swedish schools (ie, from fourth to eighth grade). From the data, we considered the learners' conversation in English as a foreign language, inquiry‐based learning in the natural sciences classroom and game‐based learning in the arithmetic classroom. On the one hand, the scrutiny of these specific activities led us to distinguish the pragmatic, epistemic, and reflexive instrumental mediations that have already been theorized in the instrumental genesis theory. On the other hand, they helped us to identify two additional ones, which we call emotional and spatial. Based on these findings, we claim that collaboration in the tablet‐mediated classroom is a complex activity that emerges from a variety of instrumental mediations that configure contemporary collaborative mobile learning.