Review of learning analytics in educational research

Abstract

An increasing amount of research work is now focused on the topic of learning analytics. Gathering the facts from the literature is important for identifying issues and features in ‘the state of the art’ and the way forward. This paper aims to examine the research literature published in the last five years and construct a systematic review of learning analytics. A document analysis method is used to classify the research work in 51 articles, selected from the Web of Science, which report educational research studies using a learning analytics approach. The details of the studies are categorised according to their research questions or objectives, the methodology (such as input data, techniques used or software tools for data collection and analysis) and the findings. This paper offers an overview of the emerging field of learning analytics, provides a foundation for exploring this promising area of educational research, and identifies a series of future challenges.