OERu/Planning/MVP learning analytics project

Background

 * 1) The Hewlett Foundation has enabled capacity to potentially support analytics work for selected grantees.
 * 2) Lunametrics will assist the OERu in developing analytics capability for the OERu 1st year of study.
 * 3) This project forms part of the OERu process evaluation.

Project team

 * 1) Wayne Mackintosh, OERF

Project communications
Staff from OERu partners with an interest in learning analytics and colleagues working on MVP courses are invited to join the email list on groups.oeru.org:


 * Learning analytics group list

Context

 * 1) Courses are authored in WikiEducator and published to WordPress using a snapshot model. (Mediawiki templates would facilitate injection of html IDs and or the scripting process could be used for supporting IDs for analytic purposes.)
 * 2) The OERu MVP courses will be published on course.oeru.org (WordPress Multisite installation)
 * 3) All OERu learners must be able to access all course materials without password access. (However, optional registration is required if learners wish to receive email announcements or post comments on forums.oeru.org or WENotes.)
 * 4) The project will use Google analytics and Google Tag manager.
 * 5) The MVP learning analytics project will be restricted to what is realistically achievable within time, technological and funding constraints.

Principles

 * 1) Aligned with the OERF philosophy, we subscribe to open data sharing taking privacy requirements and restrictions into account.
 * 2) The OERF will not sell learning analytics data to 3rd party users.
 * 3) The project subscribes to the principles of rough consensus and running code.

Purpose

 * 1) Collection, analysis and reporting of selected data from OERu course sites to understand, optimise and improve OERu open online courses.

Requirements

 * 1) Aggregated data for all OERu courses hosted on the course.oeru.org site on predetermined metrics
 * 2) Aggregated data for individual MVP courses hosted on the course.oeru.org site.
 * 3) Ability to enable course analytics for any Wordpress site using the OERu theme to host an OERu course snapshot

Brainstorm list of potential data and reports worth analysing

 * 1) Dashboard translating UTC zones into a single "time of day" graph when learners engage in OERu courses to assist course designers in knowing the best time to communicate course announcements and scheduling cohort based courses.
 * 2) Aggregate data on how learners navigate courses (eg main menu; next / previous buttons other?) - could be linked to key landing pages.
 * 3) Course videos: Aggregate data on how long learners view video signposts (in relation to the length of the video)
 * 4) WikiEducator uses pedagogical templates for a range of learning elements in the published site. It would be possible to inject specific IDs as a template parameter for analytic purposes. It would be extremely valuable to track engagement with these pedagogical elements to inform future design. There are two broad categories of templates:
 * 5) * Static" templates which don't require user interaction on the site (but we could consider incorporating a quality ranking option or thumbs up button for activities learners found useful and/or a user action to indicate that the activity was attempted / completed.)
 * 6) * Interactive-type templates like MCQ quizes where users click on answers to get immediate feedback
 * 7) A heat map (or similar report) to visualise or provide feedback on activities generating the most "interaction" or "user value" would be extremely useful.

Active tasks

 * 1) Planning questions from Lunametrics - Response to email questions
 * 2) MVP Activity types proposed for tracking

Project links and pages

 * Demo course outline

Open questions

 * 1) OERu has implemented a Discourse installation for course forums - Is there a way of incorporating the forum interactions on forums.oeru.org with analytics reports for associated courses on course.oeru.org?