Networks and Learning Analytics: Addressing Educational Challenges

Abstract

Network Analysis is an established method in learning analytics research. Network Analysis has been used to analyze learners’ interactions, to inform learning design, and to model students’ performance. The workshop entitled “Using Network Science in Learning Analytics: Building Bridges towards a Common Agenda”, carried out within the LAK2021 conference, resulted in valuable insights and outcomes: guidelines for better reporting, methodological improvements, and discussions of several novel research threads. Traditionally, the focus of the conversation has been on methodological issues of network analysis. This year, we would like to extend the conversation by slightly shifting the focus to what network analysis can do to improve learning and educational opportunities. As such, this new edition of the workshop aims to build on the fruitful achievements of the previous iteration to address new themes, which we refer to as “challenges and opportunities” in relation to practice. This edition of the workshop sought contributions around examples of applications and impact, including those that can help address societal challenges embedded within educational practices and those that foster an open conversation about privacy and ethical implications of network data. © 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors.