Learning analytics is a fast developing and strategically important area for the University and to recognise this development, IET has created a new programme centred in this area. The potential of cutting edge research in Learning Analytics to enhance the quality of the OU's teaching, its REF profile and the University's competitive advantage is significant, by making advances in the way in which we interpret data about the learning experience and predict the future behaviour of our students. In an increasingly commercial environment, sophisticated analysis of data relating to our students and their learning experience is of vitally important to the strategic decision-making of the University and also in informing the design and development of the curriculum.
JISC CETIS recently announced a report on the Learning Analytics area available at http://publications.cetis.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Analytics-for-the-Whole-Institution-Vol1-No2.pdf. The report gives the OU, Huddersfield, Glasgow, Roehampton and the University of East London as examples of UK sites with projects in the Learning Analytics area and Cornell, Michigan State and Pennsylvania as US ones. Other key players include Purdue and Athabasca.
To respond to the emerging competition in this area, and to establish the OU as a centre of excellence in Learning Analytics, in 2014/15 the Programme aims to achieve the following:
- Appointment of a new Chair in Learning Analytics by December 2013
- Develop a research and bidding strategy for Learning Analytics, in order to secure a major Learning Analytics grant in 2014/15