Visual Learning Analytics for a Better Impact of Big Data

Abstract

Visual learning analytics is an emerging research field in the intersection of visual analytics and learning analytics that is suited to address the many challenges that big data brings to the education domain. Although recent research endeavours have approached the analysis of educational processes through visual analytics, the theoretical foundations of both fields have remained mainly within their boundaries. This chapter aims at mitigating this problem by describing a reference model for visual learning analytics that can guide the design and development of successful systems. A discussion of data, methods, users and objectives’ implications within the frame of the reference model highlights why visual learning analytics is regarded as a particularly promising technology to improve educational processes.