I’ve just returned from EdMedia 2014 [#edmediaconf] where I was honoured to be invited to present as a keynote speaker. My thanks to the AACE organisers and delegates for the very warm welcome I received. The critical stance of the talk seemed to resonate with delegates, who hear a lot about "Big Data" and analytics,…
The Dept. for Education Educational Technology Action Group (ETAG), was set up in February 2014 by three Ministers: Michael Gove, Matthew Hancock and David Willetts. In response to the online consultation, Simon Knight and I have contributed to the ETAG2a cluster focused on: Students with sight and control of their own complex learning "big" data….
"As universities adapt for the 21st century, what could be done now, like never before, to fully educate future workers, citizens and fulfilled human beings?" This is the very challenging question which Randy Bass is exploring in a 6-part series of video roundtables (each with a 10min summary) to Reinvent the University for the Whole…
Prof. Tony Bryk (President, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching) is a leading thinker on the improvement of schooling systems. He spent last week at University of Bristol, where I am a visiting fellow, running a hands-on workshop and giving a public lecture. Two full days gave us the opportunity to explore in some…
Last Friday I gave an invited talk at the ESRC Code Acts in Education seminar series, University of Edinburgh. I focused on how the different dimensions to how Learning Analytics "act" in education: analytics are assessment tools, embodying educational worldviews. More details and recording of my talk on my blog. How do Learning Analytics “act”…
Key players in the field have combined forces to add momentum to the creation of open source learning analytics. I recently returned from the Open Learning Analytics (OLA) Summit at which SoLAR and Apereo Foundation committed to collaboration around OLA will enable educational institutions to create open or hybrid for fee/free analytics infrastructures. Analytics capacity…
KMi and IET combined forces to run the 2nd International Workshop on Discourse-Centric Analytics (DCLA14), as part of the LAK14 international learning analytics conference. Following the successful DCLA13 workshop, DCLA has now become a recognised class of analytics, at the intersection of several different disciplines, represented by the participants. Co-authoring with MIT’s Mark Klein, Anna…
In Washington DC, George Mason University convened a workshop on Big Data in Education, sponsored by the National Science Foundation,the Academy of Finland, and the Finnish Embassy. It brought together an eclectic group from education, computing and several who shared their experiences of how massive data is transforming their fields. The challenge laid down as…
The 4th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference held in Indianapolis, IN, USA 2 weeks ago. The conference theme this year was intersection of learning analytics research, theory and practice. The Poster & Demo Session of the conference took place on March 26th, 2014, and KMi’s Duygu was one of the demo presenters with "Visual Analytics…
Congratulations to PhD student Simon Knight, who has just won the International Association for Computing and Philosophy (IACAP)/Carnegie Mellon, Brian Michael Goldberg Memorial Award for graduate research in the areas of computing and philosophy. Simon is particularly interested in the role of social epistemology in understanding information seeking, and collaborative knowledge construction platforms such as…
