Big Data in Education NSF Workshop, George Mason University, March 2014

1. Learning Analytics
quantifying deeper learning dispositions?
Simon Buckingham Shum
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University UK
http://simon.buckinghamshum.net
http://linkedin.com/in/simon
@sbskmi #LearningAnalytics
Big Data in Education
NSF Workshop, George Mason University, March 2014

2. Learning
Technology
KMi, Open UAI &
Argumentation
Learning
Dispositions Human-Centred
Informatics
Learning
Analytics
Semantic
Scientific
Publishing
Dialogue / Issue /
Argument Mapping

3. 3
http://learningemergence.net

4. Discourse-Centric Learning Analytics
analytics that look
beneath the surface,
and quantify linguistic
proxies for ‘deeper
learning’
Beyond number / size / frequency
of posts; ‘hottest thread’
http://www.glennsasscer.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/iceberg.jpg
Monday: 2nd DCLA wkshp: dcla14.wordpress.com

5. Monitoring the health of learning ecosystems
5

6. Monitoring the health of learning ecosystems
6
helps/forces us to make our theories of
learning explicit — and test them

7. Why do dispositions matter?
7
“Knowledge of methods alone
will not suffice: there must
be the desire, the will,
to employ them. This desire is
an affair of personal
disposition.”
John Dewey
Dewey, J. How We Think: A Restatement of the Relation of Reflective Thinking to the Educative
Process. Heath and Co, Boston, 1933

8. “We’re looking at the profiles of
what it means to be effective in the
21st century. […] Resilience will
be the defining concept. When
challenged and bent, you learn and
bounce back stronger.”
John Seely Brown
8
US Dept. of Educ. http://reimaginingeducation.org conference (May 28, 2013)
Dispositions clip: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/4457327
Whole talk: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/SecD
Why do dispositions matter?

9. “We’re looking at the profiles of
what it means to be effective in the
21st century. […] Resilience will
be the defining concept. When
challenged and bent, you learn and
bounce back stronger.”
“Dispositions are now at least as
important as Knowledge and
Skills. …They cannot be taught.
They can only be cultivated.”
John Seely Brown
9
US Dept. of Educ. http://reimaginingeducation.org conference (May 28, 2013)
Dispositions clip: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/4457327
Whole talk: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/SecD
Why do dispositions matter?

10. Dispositional
Learning
Analytics
Workshop
10
http://learningemergence.net/events/lasi-dla-wkshp
http://learningemergence.net/2014/03/01/
assessing-learning-dispositions-academic-mindsets

11. Quantifying learning dispositions
agency; identity; motivation; responsibility
Buckingham Shum, S. and Deakin Crick, R. (2012). Learning Dispositions and Transferable Competencies: Pedagogy, Modelling and
Learning Analytics. Proc. 2nd Int. Conf. Learning Analytics & Knowledge. (29 Apr-2 May, Vancouver). Eprint: http://oro.open.ac.uk/32823
http://learningemergence.net/2012/04/30/learning-powered-learning-analytics

12. Quantifying teaching dispositions
http://learningemergence.net/events/lasi-dla-wkshp
Ruth Deakin Crick, Chris Goldspink & Margot Foster (2013). Telling Identities: Learning as Script or Design? Learning Emergence
Discussion Paper (June, 2013). http://learningemergence.net/library/reports

13. Self-report through reflective blogging
9-10 yr old EnquiryBloggers • Bushfield School, Wolverton, UK
EnquiryBlogger Wordpress Multisite plugins
http://learningemergence.net/tools/enquiryblogger

14. 2020: personal data cloud generates my
dispositional profile for reflection
>>> help me take responsibility for my own learning
Shaofu Huang: Prototyping Learning Power Modelling in SocialLearn
http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/SocialLearnResearch/2012/06/20/social-learning-analytics-symposium
Simon Knight: http://people.kmi.open.ac.uk/knight/2014/02/knowledge-in-search
Social network
patterns, teamwork
effectiveness and
initiation of
relationships
Questioning,
arguing and search
behaviours reveal
intrinsic curiosity
and epistemic
commitments
Tagging/sharing/
blogging/social
patterns reveal how
you see
connections
between ideas
Perseverance, grit,
tenacity; overcoming
panic/stress when
challenged — through
behavioural and
somatic traces