Learning analytics initiatives in Latin America: Implications for educational researchers, practitioners and decision makers

Abstract

This study presents several Latin American research initiatives in the field of learning analytics (LA). The study’s purpose is to enhance awareness and understanding of LA among researchers, practitioners and decision makers, and to highlight the importance of supporting research on LA. We analyzed case studies of LA research conducted at four levels of the educational system (the national, institutional, classroom and student levels), which were implemented in four countries (Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico and Uruguay). Diversified cases were selected to demonstrate the use of LA in primary, secondary and higher education, and to allow the inclusion of different types of datasets. These cases also showed the development of legal frameworks for handling ethical issues, and they met the requirements for data privacy protection in Latin America. The study concludes with a discussion of the findings and their implications for further research and practice in the field of LA for teaching and learning.

Student engagement in online learning in Latin American higher education during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A systematic review

“…The recent development of learning analytics offers tools for capturing and measuring students' online engagement during the learning process (Salas‐Pilco & Yang, 2020 ) and receiving real‐time feedback. For example, multimodal learning analytics capture student engagement data through internet of things (IoT) wearable technology.…”

“…Higher education is often characterized by low technology integration. Studies have reported under‐utilization of digital resources and marginal integration of new technologies, despite teachers' recognition of the importance of these technologies (Guillén‐Gámez & Mayorga‐Fernández, 2020 ; Salas‐Pilco & Yang, 2020 ). For example, in a study on a Chilean university, teachers' and students’ dispositions toward technologies were measured as 98% and 87%, respectively, but the teachers reported that technology usage accounted for 81% of their teaching strategy, whereas the students reported that technology usage accounted for only 63% of their learning activities (Cabero et al., 2018 ).…”

Perspectives and Opportunities for Learning Analytics Integration

“…Since the origin of that project, universities in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Cuba, Uruguay, and Peru have carried out actions to promote institutional policies to integrate LA tools and techniques in educational spaces (Cechinel et al, 2020) and studied the perceptions of students and teachers regarding the adoption of LA (Hilliger et al, 2019;Salas-Pilco & Yang, 2020;Hilliger et al, 2020aHilliger et al, , 2020bGarcia et al, 2021). Researchers have pointed out that different experiences with LA have occurred at the institutional, classroom, and student levels in LATAM and that LA has the potential to improve the quality of education while reducing inequality (Salas-Pilco & Yang, 2020), as has happened in Oceania and in some Anglo-Saxon countries (Cechinel et al, 2020).…”