Learning Analytics

What is Learning Analytics?

Learning Analytics is traditionally defined as the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about and with learners, and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs. In this way, Learning Analytics shares considerable overlap with academic disciplines (e.g., Psychology, Education, and Data Science), as well as institutional practices surrounding faculty engagement, and student support and success. These efforts are facilitated by the collection of data about learners and their contexts, which is supported by learning technology infrastructure.

University Information Technology Services (UITS) sponsors Indiana University’s institutional membership in the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR). In UITS Learning Technologies, the Learning Analytics team aims to facilitate collaborations in this emerging field.

Learning Analytics, Unizin, and IU

Indiana University is a founding member of Unizin, a consortium of like-minded institutions that share solutions for critical issues in higher education. One of Unizin’s core value statements is that access to data will strengthen the learning environment, and Unizin’s data platform is a comprehensive solution to this challenge, aiming toward the creation of the “world’s largest learning laboratory.” Along these lines, Indiana University is an active participant in the Unizin Learning Analytics subgroup, and the Unizin Learning Analytics Community of Practice.

Learning Analytics Initiatives at Indiana University

• eLearning Research and Practice Lab
• Learning Analytics in UITS Learning Technologies
• Center for Learning Analytics and Student Success (CLASS)
• Learning Analytics Fellows Program
• Bloomington Assessment and Research (BAR)
• FLAGS Initiative
• Center for Research on Learning & Technology
• ManyClasses
• Data Doubles
• Boost
• Decision Support
• Mack Center for Inquiry on Teaching and Learning in the Faculty Academy for Excellence in Teaching (FACET)
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL)