Over the last two decades, learning analytics have been all the rave. In case you don’t know, learning analytics is the measurement and dissection of data about learners used to optimize their learning experience. I have seen educators and administrators alike get so excited about learning analytics, only to realize that they have not idea how to turn them into actionable outcomes that positively affect student learning. They usually came to me to help and I always gave them these three tips for using learning analytics to immediately increase student learning.

Curriculum Mapping and Competency Determination

In curriculum mapping, we identify what we have already taught students and what to teach next. It is a collection process that typically analyzes the processes and assessments employed for core and content by subject and grade level. With learning analytics, we immediately know how effective our instructional methods were for a particular unit before moving on.

Personalized Learning and Interventions

With the data provided, we can analyze how particular students performed based on their own learning patterns, taking into consideration their gifts and challenges, prior performance, and any other factors we care to monitor. We can even use learning analytics to tailor learning to a student’s or group of students’ particular interests. For example, should we see that a particular class of students absorbed and retained the content with greater mastery when other subjects were integrated, or classes were held outdoors, or learning was inquiry-based, we may decide to expand upon those efforts.

Behavior Prediction

Learning analytics helps educators determine how well students have mastered content and through what means, and also can assess student’s risk level. Identifying blocks of students who may have academic or behavioral challenges helps educators to develop the interventions to prevent them while predicting success can help students reach their full potential.

With the help of learning analytics, every action educators take will move towards helping students achieve their learning goals and objectives. With the help of learning analytics, our community will learn to celebrate and progress higher through the educational whirlwind that fuels our tomorrow.

Any additional tips?