Learning Analytics

The connection between the learners and technology devices is consistently increasing. As an educator, I have always had concerns about the higher education. How can we make better decisions to improve the higher education? How can we learn about the weaknesses and strengths of our learners? How can we help our learners to improve their learning styles and become self directed learners? We really need reliable data to be analyzed and implemented in future higher education. Future education needs new technologies, flexible classroom designs, and higher interactive learning environment. Consequently, learning analytics depicts the future picture of the education. It is the measurement, data collection, and the reporting data of the collected analysis. For example, EDUCAUSE www.educause.edu and NGLC http://nextgenlearning.org work to focus on interactive learning communities to collect the data necessary for learning analysis. Online learning is able to record rich data traits and activity streams that can be used to prevent learners from dropouts and help them to achieve success and accomplish their learning goals. It also helps the institutions to make better decisions concerning their learners or the learning system itself. Additionally, it provides the learners with an important insight into their own learning strategies and methods to overcome the possible learning challenges. Moreover, watching the ted talk of Daphne Koller about online learning advantages inspired me with many creative ideas. She presented a new and young learning concept which mostly focuses on the learners. One of the most interesting features Koller referred in her speech is that the learners are able to listen to the lecture in an interactive way through answering to specific questions that may pop up on the screen throughout the lecture. The lecture will pause for a while so that the learner tries to answer a question. After watching Daphne Koller’s speech I changed some of the misconceptions that I used to have about the online education. I have never trusted the online education, but I was fascinated by her real life stories and how the online education helped people to accomplish important steps in their lives and get college degree. Finally, as MA TEFL profession I think developing the online learning features may have better results in the future higher education. www.linkedin.com , www.futurict.eu