Institutional Reflection on Readiness: The Learning Analytics Readiness Instrument
Date: May 19, 2014
Time: 1:00–4:00 p.m. ET (UTC-4) convert to your time zone; Runs three hours.
Malcolm Brown and Veronica Diaz moderated this online seminar focusing on institutional readiness for learning analytics. The New Media Consortium lists learning analytics as being two to three years away from mainstream adoption in higher education. With the predicted explosion in interest on the horizon, many institutions are trying to make decisions about how to get into learning analytics. Institutional reflection on readiness is paramount to strategic success. In the current fiscal environment, there is an increased demand for financial and scholastic accountability. This seminar will focus on a second iteration tool: the Learning Analytics Readiness Instrument (LARI).
The LARI goes beyond a traditional landscape survey and delves into the requisite elements of learning analytics readiness in great detail. By gathering data about readiness perception from several key stakeholders on campus, the LARI can provide a comprehensive picture of where potential effort needs to be directed before an institution is ready to embark on the resource-intensive journey toward successful learning analytics implementation.
The instrument and its construction, including statistically derived readiness components, will be introduced and discussed in detail, with ample time alloted for on-site teams to work together to discuss how given elements relate to their home institution. Seminar participants, and several key stakeholders from their institutions, were asked to complete the LARI before the seminar so that dedicated time could be spent examining each institution’s composite score. Broad feedback was delivered, and each team discussed how certain areas will be addressed at their institution and how to identify campus gaps in readiness.