nna De Rosa

E-Research: An Introduction to On-Line Political Science Sources for Beginners (and Skeptics)

The purpose of this review article is to contribute to monitoring and debating changes in the electronic research environment. We shall present an overview (mainly tailored to cyberspace neophytes) of some of the best electronic resources currently available on-line for political science, drawing from our experience as editors of IPSAPortal, the International Political Science Associations website dedicated to selecting and reviewing the top e-hubs in our discipline. However, in venturing into political science cyberspace, we will try to offer a more general understanding of the major trends now impacting upon the internet galaxy. Much as we may be tempted just to stick to our little planet, we must be aware that it is part of, and emerges from, a much larger system.

Governing by Data: Some Considerations on the Role of Learning Analytics in Education

E-governance is growing in interest as a technique of decision making in the public domain. The technological revolution is, in fact, enabling governments to use a great variety of digital tools and data to manage more effectively all phases of the policy cycle process. Although still in its infancy, the use of big data is becoming a core element of the emergence of e-governance as a form of evidence-based policy making. We are assisting to the emergence of a form of governing by data, where governments will take more and more sensitive decisions through data mining systems. Education is one of the policy fields where the use of big data such as learning analytics is becoming crucial for funds allocation, institutional accountability, and programs review. This article briefly explores the scientific debate about analytics highlighting the role they should play in the educational datascape.

The EMMA Experience. Emerging Patterns and Factors for Success

Since 2008, when the first experiment with MOOCs took place, much has been said, written and explored. However, almost ten years later we are unable to say whether MOOCs are really a desirable learning experience and, moreover, what are the factors for success in the MOOC environment. Literature in the field seems to clearly endorse learner engagement and participation as activities that ensure a higher completion rate and a satisfying learning experience, yet a high degree of dropout can be attributed to a request for participation which learners find unsustainable. On many MOOC projects, the data opens opportunities for discussion but provides few answers, as so much depends on individual variables of the specific course. Far from being a limit of the research, this uncertainty is the only way to preserve learning from becoming a hostage of algorithms, thus leaving teachers and learners the freedom to plan, decide, and experience, and to evaluate their teaching and learning.

Big data in policy making

ABSTRACT A review of studies based on big data shows that big data advantageously complete surveys and censuses, nurture policy making, and highlight effects of a given policy in real time.

A research agenda on MOOCS: the perspective of social sciences

Originated to help academic institutions innovate pedagogical models, MOOCs are taking different routes, some of them marked by public policies, others by market strategies. Questioning the MOOC phenomenon according only to pedagogies and learning theories means, however, underestimating their impact on the evolution of educational systems. This article intends to define a research agenda into the social impact of MOOCs, in order to reflect on changes in educational policies, on academic culture, and on learning measurement. For this reason we suggest focusing attention on three features of MOOC phenomenology: MOOCs as a social movement - an active policy initiative to promote greater democratization of education; MOOCs as a medium and a cultural artifact (mediated texts, videos, interface, platform functionalities) able to convey learning to distant learners; and, lastly, MOOCs as a measurement - in other words as instrumentation (i.e. learning statements, analytics, algorithms, visualizion tools, dashboards etc.) that allow you to monitor, analyze and optimize the effectiveness of online teaching and learning. We also highlight their limits in these regards.

Unpacking Big Data in Education. A Research Framework

Abstract The use of big data represents a valuable way to inspire decision-making in a time of scarce resources. The technological revolution is in fact enabling governments to use a great variety of digital tools and data to manage all phases of the policy cycle process, becoming a core element for e-governance applications and techniques. However, research is seemingly not yet aligned yet with the hybrid environment that both public policies and politics are moving in, while the actors (old and new) and the decision-making processes themselves, in their searching for automation and objectivity, risk being overshadowed. Taking the case of Higher Education, this article proposes a research framework for big-data use to prompt the reflection on the power of “evidence” in decision making; to question and contextualize such evidences in a multimodal and integrated scenario, and to understand the challenges that data will pose to education both in terms of unforeseen and hidden effects.