The latest data alert: By 2020, the amount of data generated daily will reach 40 zettabytes, or roughly 5,247 gigabytes for every person on earth. That's one of the findings in a new report published by IT industry analysts at IDC. The study casts doubt on the ability to capture the value of all this data, especially since schools barely tapped…

Because MOOCs bring big data to the forefront, they confront learning science with technology challenges. We describe an agenda for developing technology that enables MOOC analytics. Such an agenda needs to efficiently address the detailed, low level, high volume nature of MOOC data. It also needs to help exploit the data's capacity to reveal, in…

Today, collecting, evaluating, and analyzing data--the basic concepts of scientific study--usually involves electronic probeware. Probeware combines sensors that collect data with software that analyzes it once it has been sent to a computer or calculator. Science inquiry has benefited greatly from the use of electronic probeware, providing…