Learning Analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimising learning and the environments in which it occurs, as defined back in 2011 for the first LAK, this general definition still holds true even as the field has grown. Learning analytics is both an academic field and commercial marketplace which have taken rapid shape over the last decade. As a research and teaching field, Learning Analytics sits at the convergence of Learning (e.g. educational research, learning and assessment sciences, educational technology), Analytics (e.g. statistics, visualization, computer/data sciences, artificial intelligence), and Human-Centered Design (e.g. usability, participatory design, sociotechnical systems thinking).

SO WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT? People have been researching learning and teaching, tracking student progress, analysing school or university data, designing assessments and using evidence to improve teaching and learning for a long time. Learning Analytics builds on these well established disciplines, but seeks to exploit the new opportunities once we capture new forms of digital data from students’ learning activity, and use computational analysis techniques from data science and AI.