Videolesson: Reporting and dashboards in learning analytics

Watch the video lecture on different reporting approaches (dashboards, statistical reports, real-time notifications, etc.) and examples of dashboards in the context of learning analytics.

Transcript

	Welcome. In this video lesson we explore how the results of learning analytics are presented to users, students, teachers, and decision-makers through different forms of reporting. Learning analytics does not end with data collection and analysis. Reporting is a crucial phase because it enables insights from learning analytics to be applied in teaching and learning. There are various ways of reporting that are useful for different user groups. One example is statistical reports, which may include for instance, analysis of grades. More complex reports are also possible and may include not only descriptive but also predictive learning analytics. Such reports can be useful for teachers or decision makers, but they're not interactive and do not provide real-time data analysis. As such, there are not resources that students commonly use. Students benefit more from interactive forms of reporting, such as real-time messages in a learning management system. These represent a form of personalized feedback. For example, a student may automatically receive a reminder if they have been inactive for more than seven days, or receive feedback on their work. Messages that guide students through the learning process can increase motivation and support self-regulated learning. However, the most common form of reporting in learning analytics is the dashboard. Dashboards are visual interfaces that display key information and learning analytics results such as learning progress, engagement, achieved learning outcomes and risk alerts often in real time. They make it easier to track learning and provide the basis for reflection and intervention. They may be integrated into learning management systems, MSs (such as Moodle), and based on data from these systems, but they may also be standalone. Dashboards provide visualizations based on the digital footprint. Students leave in educational and environments, and they might also include recommendations. Data are collected, unobtrusively, or automatically without interrupting students or requiring teacher intervention. They usually include data on resource use, time spent, and student assessment. They can provide real-time reports on student progress and learning behavior. Their functionalities range from static reports to dynamic visualizations that can be customized. There are different types of dashboards intended for different stakeholders. Research has shown that most dashboards are aimed at teachers and that they insufficiently support students in developing learning related skills such as metacognition and self-regulation. In this context, the need to develop student-centered dashboards has increasingly been emphasized. A student dashboard can be defined as an interactive, historical, personalized, and analytical display that shows a student's learning patterns, status, performance, and interactions. In addition to insights into course progress, as an example of descriptive analytics, student dashboards may also include predictions related to achieving learning outcomes. As an example of predictive analytics, they may also include visual representations of learning behavior, highlight remaining tasks, show comparisons with other studentsand provide reminders, recommendations, and planning functions. Access to analytics can encourage reflection, behavioral change, and ultimately better achievement of learning outcomes. A study by Divjak et al. (2023) from 2023 examined what students actually want and expect from dashboards in particular, which functionalities they consider most useful for supporting their learning. It showed that students most value features related to immediate learning planning, such as schedules, calendars, notifications and overviews of points and grades. On the other hand, features related to competition and comparison were of less interest to students. However, other studies have shown that comparisons can be beneficial for students. Therefore, the development of dashboards must take into account differences in educational and cultural contexts, as well as individual differences. In this sense, opportunities for dashboard customization and personalization in line with the principle of human-centered learning analytics are particularly important. This allows students to use learning analytics in ways that match their individual needs. The same study also resulted in a proposal for a student dashboard model consisting of five components planning, which includes features that support time management, task tracking, reminders, and calendars. These features were rated as the most important by students comparisons. They enable comparison of a student's progress with that of others. While some students find this motivating. Others are concerned about competitiveness and stress. Predictions includes features related to predicting student success. These may support self-regulation, but may also have a potentially discouraging effect. Teachers includes features that enable students to provide feedback on teaching staff. Extracurricular includes badges, rewards and competition results, which students considered the least important. On the other hand, there are teacher dashboards. These provide insight into student activities, progress and achievement help identify students who need support and facilitate the adaptation of teaching and learning processes. While some dashboards simply present information and leave interpretation to the teacher, new approaches provide alerts about potential problems in individual students or groups and suggest possible interventions. They may include recommendations such as selecting students for group work or switching to another activity. However, most existing dashboards still focus on helping teachers understand the situation while fewer actively support specific pedagogical action. Teachers may also greatly benefit from learning design analytics displayed in dedicated dashboards such as those in the Balanced Design Planning BDP tool. These dashboards allow teachers to see detailed analysis of course, design from student workload, and the application of different learning types to constructive alignment. These analysis provide a foundation for improving learning design in accordance with key pedagogical principles and for applying innovative pedagogies. In learning analytics, the design and evaluation of dashboards is an important field with the goal of developing displays that gives students and teachers insight into data in a way that raises awareness and supports the transformation of teaching and learning. In line with human centered learning analytics, it is essential to involve students and teachers in the development of learning analytics systems and their dashboards. This ensures their purposefulness and usefulness in improving teaching and learning. Of course, students and teachers also share responsibility for actively engaging in these processes and contributing their perspectives. Dashboards and reports in learning analytics support students and teachers in making informed decisions. However, to be useful, they must be adapted to the context, needs, and users. Therefore, their proper development requires collaboration between designers, teachers, students, and other stakeholders.