The "Forum Guide to Metadata" presents and examines the ways in which metadata can be used by education agencies to improve data quality and promote a better understanding of education data. Supported by metadata-related case studies from state and local education agencies, the guide highlights the uses of metadata from a technical point…

Recent technological advances have led to tremendous capacities for collecting, storing and analyzing data being created at an ever-increasing speed from diverse sources. Academic institutions which offer open and distance learning programs, such as the Hellenic Open University, can benefit from big data relating to its students' information and…

Against the backdrop of the ever-increasing influx of big data, this article examines the opportunities and concerns over big data in education. Specifically, this article first introduces big data, followed by delineating the potential opportunities of using big data in education in two areas: learning analytics and educational policy. Then, the…

Over the last two years, more data was created than in the entire previous history of humankind (IBM, 2016; Marr, 2016). Roughly 1.7 megabytes of new information will be created every second for every person on earth by the turn of the decade (Evans, 2011; Gantz & Reinsel, 2012; Marr, 2016). Data are created continuously and at a rate that is…

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…

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…

This book is a welcome guide for educators, civic leaders, and researchers looking for ways to leverage data to identify the most effective policies, interventions, and use of resources for their communities. In the current era of reform, much has been made of the fact that there are many influences that shape children beyond the walls of the…

The Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) will establish technical standards and guidelines to ensure that the survey design and implementation processes of PIAAC yield high-quality and internationally comparable data. This document provides a revised version of the technical standards and guidelines originally…

Purpose: The motivation for this investigation is to apply social networking features to a semantic network portal, which supports the efforts in enterprise training units to up-skill the employee in the company, and facilitates the creation and reuse of knowledge in online communities. Design/methodology/approach: The paper provides an overview…