Institutional Reflection on Readiness: The Learning Analytics Readiness Instrument

Malcolm Brown and Veronica Diaz will moderate 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, will be asked to complete the LARI before the seminar so that dedicated time can be spent examining each institution’s composite score. Broad feedback will be delivered, and each team will have time to discuss how certain areas will be addressed at their institution and how to identify campus gaps in readiness.

It is strongly encouraged that institutional teams attend this seminar so that multiple perspectives can be represented.

Learning Objectives

• Gain an understanding of the complex nature of a scalable learning analytics initiative.
• Examine components across the institution, from various perspectives, to serve as a means of formative assessment; if deficits are discovered, energy can be put into finding solutions before an LA initiative is started.
• Be able to identify success metrics in the learning analytics field and how they apply to teaching and learning; understand the distinction between course- and institution-level LA initiatives.