Reviewing three case-studies of learning analytics interventions at the open university UK

A review of learning analytics intervention in higher education (2011–2018)

“…For example, students who are less likely to attain the learning objectives of a course can obtain support to improve their performance (Beattie et al 2014;Sclater and Bailey 2015). Instructors can take the opportunity to consolidate their relationship with students, reflect on their teaching performance and adjust the teaching or course contents accordingly (Rienties et al 2016). Also, faculty or school administrators can enhance course modules or make better use of resources and information technology infrastructure through resource re-allocation and collaboration across departments (Molinaro et al 2016;Wong and Lavrencic 2016).…”

“…As the final stage of the learning analytics cycle, intervention has been claimed to be the biggest challenge in learning analytics (Rienties et al 2017). Although the idea of making learning analytics data meaningful and available to learners has been promoted in recent years, most research still puts an emphasis on developing an accurate prediction model and few studies have addressed the intervention strategies (Clow 2012;Corrin et al 2016;Rienties et al 2016). Rienties et al (2017) state that, despite there being an increasing amount of research on small-scale, experimental implementation of intervention, there is not yet a comprehensive model supported by a strong evidence base for instructors to make effective interventions.…”

The potential for student performance prediction in small cohorts with minimal available attributes

“…The OU's world-class Analytics4Action initiative (Rienties, Boroowa, Cross, Farrington-Flint et al, 2016) supports the university-wide approach to LA. In particular, the initiative provided valuable insights into the identification of students and modules where interventions would be beneficial, analysing over 90 large-scale modules over a two-year period.…”

Evidence-Based Learning: Futures

“…Indeed, two recent systematic reviews of 26 and 55 learning analytics dashboards studies (Jivet et al, 2018;Schwendimann et al, 2017) indicated that teachers and students will be able to obtain (almost) real-time information about how, where, and when to study. Beyond providing just-in-time support (Daley et al, 2016;Herodotou et al, 2017), learning analytics may help teachers to fine-tune the learning design if large numbers of students are struggling with the same task (Hidalgo, 2018;Rienties et al, 2016a;Rienties & Toetenel, 2016). In line with the Beyond Prototypes framework, paying attention to the ecology of practices, one layer of the policy context is a key element of our approach to learning analytics, so teacher and learning practices and perceptions are investigated.…”

“…As also highlighted in Chapter 3, the role of teachers in making sense of these dynamic and complex systems is vital. In fact, how teachers are making sense of the teaching and learning practice, its students, and data arising from the complex interactions of students with learning resources, peers, and teachers, has become even more important in the last 5-10 years (Herodotou et al, 2017(Herodotou et al, , 2019Hidalgo, 2018;Rienties et al, 2016a;, 2019Tait, 2018). As demonstrated by a range of projects within the OU as well as outside the OU (Guri-Rosenblit, 2018;Lawless & Pellegrino, 2007), the teacher is the key success factor in making pedagogy and technology work.…”