The focus of ethics in learning analytics (LA) frameworks and guidelines is predominantly on procedural elements of data management and accountability. Another, less represented focus is on the duty to act and LA as a moral practice. Data feminism as a critical theoretical approach to data science practices may offer LA research and practitioners…

With student and staff wellbeing a growing concern, several authors have asked whether existing data might help institutions provide better support. By analogy with the established field of Learning Analytics, this might involve identifying causes of stress, improving access to information for those who need it, suggesting options, providing rapid…

Multimodal learning analytics (MMLA) integrates novel sensing technologies and artificial intelligence algorithms, providing opportunities to enhance student reflection during complex, collaborative learning experiences. Although recent advancements in MMLA have shown its capability to generate insights into diverse learning behaviours across…

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…

Learning analytics involve the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, in order to understand and optimize learning and the environments in which it occurs. Since emerging as a distinct field in 2011, learning analytics has grown rapidly, and early adopters around the world are developing and…

This response to Neil Selwyn's paper, 'What's the problem with learning analytics?', relates his work to the ethical challenges associated with learning analytics and proposes six ethical challenges for the field.

To identify the ways teachers and educational systems can improve learning, researchers need to make causal inferences. Analyses of existing datasets play an important role in detecting causal patterns, but conducting experiments also plays an indispensable role in this research. In this article, we advocate for experiments to be embedded in real…

The adoption of learning analytics (LA) in complex educational systems is woven into sociocultural and technical challenges that have induced distrust in data and difficulties in scaling LA. This paper presents a study that investigated areas of distrust and threats to trustworthy LA through a series of consultations with teaching staff and…

Most studies on the use of digital student data adopt an ethical framework derived from human-subject research, based on the informed consent of the experimental subject. However, consent gives universities little guidance on using learning analytics as a routine part of educational provision: which purposes are legitimate and which analyses…

Learning analytics has reserved its position as an important field in the educational sector. However, the large-scale collection, processing, and analyzing of data has steered the wheel beyond the borders to face an abundance of ethical breaches and constraints. Revealing learners' personal information and attitudes, as well as their activities,…

As a further step towards maturity, the field of learning analytics (LA) is working on the definition of frameworks that structure the legal and ethical issues that scholars and practitioners must take into account when planning and applying LA solutions to their learning contexts. However, current efforts in this direction tend to be focused on…

In light of increasing concerns about surveillance, higher education institutions (HEIs) cannot afford a simple paternalistic approach to student data. Very few HEIs have regulatory frameworks in place and/or share information with students regarding the scope of data that may be collected, analyzed, used, and shared. It is clear from literature…

Analyzing a conference, especially one as young and focused as LAK, provides the opportunity to observe the structure and contributions of the scientific community around it. This work will perform a Scientometric analysis, coupled with a more in-depth manual content analysis, to extract this insight from the proceedings and program of LAK 2013.…

Ethical and legal objections to learning analytics are barriers to development of the field, thus potentially denying students the benefits of predictive analytics and adaptive learning. Jisc, a charitable organization that champions the use of digital technologies in UK education and research, has attempted to address this with the development of…

To find a balance between learning analytics research and individual privacy, learning analytics initiatives need to appropriately address ethical, privacy, and data protection issues. A range of general guidelines, model codes, and principles for handling ethical issues and for appropriate data and privacy protection are available, which may…