(SpringerBriefs in Business Process Management) Learning Analytics Cookbook_ How to Support Learning Processes Through Data Analytics and Visualizatio

Chapter 4
Understanding Student-Driven Learning
Processes
Abstract Nowadays, teachers often use digital platforms to support their face-toface
activities in the classroom. This can spice up the teaching or facilitate learning
activities from home. After using such platforms, it could be interesting and beneficial
to visualize the students’ actions to better understand the patterns in the
students’ learning and performance. Often the problem with using existing learning
platforms is that the visualizations are pre-defined by the system designer and might
not fit well for the purpose and objectives of the teacher or for a specific course. In
this recipe we tackle this lack of flexibility in creating visualizations by introducing
DojoIBL. We showcase an example of how dashboards and own visualizations of
students’ digital traces can be created. Teachers without previous experience can
also easily do this on their own. In addition, teachers can also use DojoIBL to design
and create courses, projects or seminars.
Keywords DojoIBL · Project management tool · Inquiry-based learning
4.1 Appetizer
Policymakers recognize student-centered approaches as efficient ways to make
students more proficient in their learning. However, such student-centered
approaches require students to take ownership of their learning, so students must
develop skills like reflection, self-regulation, metacognition, and self-assessment
that help them to be autonomous, while teachers need to follow students’ progress
and to intervene in their learning when needed. These two aspects of a studentcentered
approach can be facilitated with learning analytics.
One of the problems that teachers face when using learning analytics in an
educational platform—if one even exists—is the visualizations’ lack of flexibility.
Usually, they are fixed and given by the system designers, so they may not fit the
learning purpose or the teacher’s objectives. Therefore, teachers might not find
learning analytics the perfect instrument for helping them monitor and support
their students.
© The Author(s) 2020
R. Jaakonmäki et al., Learning Analytics Cookbook, SpringerBriefs in Business
Process Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43377-2_4
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