Policy

Owned by Michael Hughes
Last updated: Jun 16, 2019 by Julie Regamey (Unlicensed)

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The biggest concern highlighted by the institutions was “Ethics, use of data, privacy and data security”. This was raised by 53% of institutions. This can all easily be addressed within a learning analytics policy. This page will outline best practice that has been found within the sector to assist those interested in beginning or further developing their learning analytics policy.   

 

Some best practice of the industry:  

Getting students to write the policy 

Student input in the learning analytics process has been shown to be a key feature in many of the institutions future plans. As the data being collected is about students their voice is critical in ensuring understanding and take up of the idea by other students. Having students write the policy (under supervision of the professional) ensures that the information in the policy is what the students both need and want to know.   

 

Take into account Data Protection/GDPR 

A key concern for many institutions is the legal implications of data collection. However, a clear policy that is explanatory and adheres to data protection, including the new GDPR rules can combat this. A key guide to help with this can be found at: 

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/  

 

Don’t forget about ethics 

Ethical conundrums come hand in hand with data collection, just because something is legal does not necessarily mean it is ethical. However, taking the time to consider best ethical practice and referring to it within your policy can really make a difference. A key source to use is the DELICATE checklist by the LACE project.  

 

Define what learning analytics is 

Before the explanation of what the students data is being used for a definition of learning analytics should be established and presented. While how you decide to define learning analytics is completely dependent of the institution, the definition should be clear and easy to understand.  

 

Use the SHEILA framework 

The SHEILA framework is a result of the work of the SHEILA project. The project conducted research which resulted in a dataset collected from a number of stakeholders. Their website is full of helpful information on learning analytics and digital data in general. Furthermore their framework page encourages institutions have a policy and has a number of helpful guides to assist with writing it. The second version of the SHEILA framework was released in May 2018 and is to be used alongside the manual and handout of the SHEILA framework. Finally they provide a web tool which helps you build your policy.  

 

Institutions with a learning analytics policy: