SASUF Sustainability Forum 2024

Introduction:
Learning Analytics (LA) assists in identifying rich data trails that enable access to insights
into the learning process. Such data includes: students attendance; student performance;
curriculum goals; class schedules; student admission data; educational data; demographic
data and data on student affectivity (e.g. motivation, emotional states). The use of the data
can enhance our understanding of how student learn, enhance student retention and so
on.

Relevance of the topic to the Swedish and South African context:
A study conducted in South Africa (SA)1 involving eight Higher Education Institutions
(HEIs), noted the need to develop LA models at South African HEIs. Such LA models
could establish ways that data can be disaggregated and analyzed in a useful way to
optimize understanding of the individual student and identify appropriate and timely
interventions. Similar interventions are also needed in a Swedish context where LA can aid
in our understanding of the students learning process. In addition, with the introduction of
Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT it is increasingly important that we
understand how different tools aid, or deter, student learning.
How you plan to develop future collaborations and activities beyond the Forum:
It is expected that this workshop will attract academics who are interested in the use of
data to improve student attainment and to identify students who are at risk. Academics
from both Sweden and South Africa who shall attend the workshop will be invited to be
part of the Community of Practice in this endeavor. Future continuous academic activities
will be planned and executed e.g. joint workshops, research, publications.

The aim/purpose with the workshop:
The aim of the workshop is to explore the use of various sources of data within LA to
support students learning and attainment at higher education institutions in Sweden and
South Africa in order to identify and share examples of good practice. The workshop will
also be an opportunity to set up a Community of Practice between South Africa & Swedish
partners/Universities. Training approaches for multidisciplinary teams regarding the
identification and use of various data sources will also be taken into consideration.

The workshop will be divided into 2 sessions.
Session 1 (first hour):
- A short presentation of 1) What data is in higher learning environments, 2) What
Learning analytics is in a higher learning environments.
- A presentation of examples of various models of Learning Analytics data that is
used by various higher education institutions.
Session 2 (second hour):
- Group discussion on 1) what data is currently being used at your institution? 2) how
can LA and education data improve your education? 3) what is needed for you to
take full advantage of all the data available? (groups of 5 mixed)
- Report back & summary.
- An open discission on the way forward.

Keywords: Learning analytics, big data, student retention, sustainable education