Wild brooms and learning analytics

Abstract

In this commentary we present an analogy between Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe’s classic poem, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and institutional learning analytics. In doing so, we hope to provoke institutions with a simple heuristic when considering their learning analytics initiatives. They might ask themselves, “Are we behaving like the sorcerer’s apprentice?” This would be characterized by initiatives lacking faculty involvement, and we argue that when initiatives fit this pattern, they also lack consideration of their potential hazards, and are likely to fail. We join others in advocating for institutions to, instead, create ecosystems that enable faculty leadership in institutional learning analytics efforts.