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From Reflective Practitioner to Active Researcher: Towards a Role for Learning Analytics in Higher Education Scholarship

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Learning, Design, and Technology

Abstract

The rapidly changing higher education (HE) environment has transformed the ways academics work to overcome the challenges of ever-evolving imperatives. Changes in public sector funding models, the increase in the number and range of student capabilities, and the raised importance of university status have contributed to increasing accountability measures, including the wide adoption of standards and quality metrics in all aspects of academic practice. Academics are now at the center of coordinated institutional teaching quality enhancement efforts, putting a strain on their ability to perform equally well in research and teaching. In this chapter, a teaching and course development framework is proposed integrating ideas around reflective practice with the systematic use of evidence generated using methodologies emerging from the field of learning analytics and educational data science. The proposed framework could help academics to develop their teaching practice leveraging on previously untapped sources of evidence readily available in contemporary HE institutions and utilizing the disciplinary research skillset, which is not typically applied to teaching development. A case study illustrating the application of the proposed framework to scholarly evaluation of an academic development program (adopting online and face-to-face activities) is presented and discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    More details about the UKPSF can be found at https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/recognition-accreditation/uk-professional-standards-framework-ukpsf and the CADAD range of professional development material can be found at http://www.cadad.edu.au/course/view.php?id=11.

  2. 2.

    The flipped classroom describes a reversal of traditional teaching where students gain first exposure to new material outside of class, usually via reading or lecture videos, and then class time is used to do the harder work of assimilating that knowledge through strategies such as problem solving, discussion, or debates. (Vanderbilt University, Center for Teaching; https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/flipping-the-classroom/).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education & Learning and Teaching Unit, University of New South Wales, Level 10, the Library, 2052 Kensington, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Lorenzo Vigentini, Negin Mirriahi & Giedre Kligyte

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  1. Lorenzo Vigentini
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  2. Negin Mirriahi
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  3. Giedre Kligyte
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Correspondence to Lorenzo Vigentini .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Info, Ste G150, Univ of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA

    Michael J Spector

  2. School of Education, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

    Barbara B Lockee

  3. School of Education, Baker University, Overland Park, Kansas, USA

    Marcus D. Childress

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Vigentini, L., Mirriahi, N., Kligyte, G. (2016). From Reflective Practitioner to Active Researcher: Towards a Role for Learning Analytics in Higher Education Scholarship. In: Spector, M., Lockee, B., Childress, M. (eds) Learning, Design, and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17727-4_6-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17727-4_6-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-17727-4

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