Dai Griffiths

Augmenting the VLE using widget technologies

Can widget technologies revolutionise the virtual learning environment (VLE) and challenge the dominant design of e-learning? Are widgets ready to be deployed in todays VLEs? The authors describe an experimental implementation of the Moodle VLE using the W3C widget specification and Google Wave Gadget API to replace existing core features. This raises four challenges: 1) by replacing most of the functionality of the VLE with simple reusable applications, the core functionality and design of the VLE is challenged; 2) by allowing these applications to be extracted and used in personal learning environments (PLEs), the hegemony of the institutional system is challenged; 3) by conducting learning activities in small discrete applications, the model of student tracking is challenged; 4) synchronous, live updating applications challenges the model of user behaviour for the VLE. The paper also describes further work in adding widget technology to other VLEs using the IMS Basic learning tools interoperability (LTI) specification.

The influence of data protection and privacy frameworks on the design of learning analytics systems

Learning analytics open up a complex landscape of privacy and policy issues, which, in turn, influence how learning analytics systems and practices are designed. Research and development is governed by regulations for data storage and management, and by research ethics. Consequently, when moving solutions out the research labs implementers meet constraints defined in national laws and justified in privacy frameworks. This paper explores how the OECD, APEC and EU privacy frameworks seek to regulate data privacy, with significant implications for the discourse of learning, and ultimately, an impact on the design of tools, architectures and practices that now are on the drawing board. A detailed list of requirements for learning analytics systems is developed, based on the new legal requirements defined in the European General Data Protection Regulation, which from 2018 will be enforced as European law. The paper also gives an initial account of how the privacy discourse in Europe, Japan, South-Korea and China is developing and reflects upon the possible impact of the different privacy frameworks on the design of LA privacy solutions in these countries. This research contributes to knowledge of how concerns about privacy and data protection related to educational data can drive a discourse on new approaches to privacy engineering based on the principles of Privacy by Design. For the LAK community, this study represents the first attempt to conceptualise the issues of privacy and learning analytics in a cross-cultural context. The paper concludes with a plan to follow up this research on privacy policies and learning analytics systems development with a new international study.

Re-engineering the Uptake of ICT in Schools

While many innovations in Technology Enhanced Learning TEL have emerged over the last two decades, the uptake of these innovations has not always been very successful, particularly in schools. The transition from proof of concept to integration into learning activities has been recognized as a bottleneck for quite some time. This major problem, which is affecting many TEL stakeholders, is the focus of the four year iTEC project that is developing a comprehensive approach.

Learning analytics and policy (LAP): international aspirations, achievements and constraints

The Learning Analytics and Policy (LAP) workshop explores and documents the ways in which policies at national and regional level are shaping the development of learning analytics. It brings together representatives from around the world who report on the circumstances in their own country. The workshop is preceded by an information gathering phase, and followed by the authoring of a report. The aspirations, achievements and constraints in the different countries are contrasted and documented, providing a valuable resource for the future development of learning analytics.

An Ethical Waiver for Learning Analytics

The discourse and practice of data governance in learning analytics, and the ethics which inform it, are confused and contradictory. This can be elucidated by considering the coming together of two contrasting research traditions: academic research and operations research.

The iTEC Eduteka

In the current panorama of education across Europe we find that technology is increasingly present in the classroom. On the one hand, we have government programs that provide classrooms with a technological infrastructure. On the other hand, students themselves, usually have mobile devices—such as smartphones and tablets—and carry them everywhere, including the classroom. In this context, it is born the Innovative Technologies for an Engaging Classroom (iTEC) project, which is the flagship FP7 project in the education area, financed by the European Commission with 12 million Euros. The iTEC tries to contribute to the conception of the classroom of the future, in which technology is complemented with the most innovative pedagogical approaches, which entail a major level of dynamism in the educational practice. Thus, the iTEC promotes an educational practice, in which students interact in small projects including a participation in events, speeches with experts, and all that seasoned with the use of technology. In the iTEC, The Eduteka is a toolkit of technologies for advanced learning activity design. The components of the Eduteka provide support for the iTEC pedagogical approach. Those are thoroughly presented in this chapter.