Keynote Presentation at Classroom Conference 2015, Athens Open Discovery Space: Transforming schools into innovative learning organisations

1. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
1/27
Smart Educational Decision Support Systems for School
Complexity Leadership: A Research Agenda for School
Analytics
Demetrios G. Sampson
Senior and Golden Core Member IEEE
Professor, Department of Digital Systems, University of Piraeus, GREECE (until September 2015)
Research Professor, School of Education, Curtin University, AUSTRALIA (from October 2015)
Adjunct Research Fellow, Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology, GREECE
Editor-in-Chief, Educational Technology and Society Journal
Past Chair, IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Learning Technology
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2. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
2/27
… about the speaker…
• Research Professor of Learning Technologies, School of Education, Curtin University, AUSTRALIA (from October 2015)
• Professor, Department of Digital Systems, University of Piraeus, GREECE (on a non-paid leave from 1/10/2015)
• Founder and Director, Research Program on Advanced Digital Systems & Services for Education and Learning (since 1999)
• Adjunct Research Fellow, Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology, GREECE (since 1999)
• Co-Editor-in-Chief, Educational Technology and Society Journal (Ranked #3 in Educational Technology – Scholar Google)
• Past Chair, IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Learning Technology (2008-2012)
• Senior and Golden Core Member, IEEE Computer Society
• Co-author of 365 publications with at least 1700+ citations (h-index:21)
• Received 8 times Best Paper Awards in International Conferences on Learning Technologies
• Guest Editor of 31 Special Issues in International Journals
• Member of Editorial Board, 23 International Journals in Learning Technologies
• Keynote/Invited Speaker on 70 International and/or National Conferences in Learning Technologies
• General and/or Program Committee Chair in 40 International Conferences in Learning Technologies
• Program Committee Member in 400+ International and/or National Conferences in Learning Technologies
• Project Director, Principle Investigator and/or Consultant in 65 research projects with external funding 14M Euro (1991-
2016)

3. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
3/27
Overview
• The Need:
• Technology-Supported School Complexity Leadership
• The Challenge:
• Smart Data-driven Educational Leadership Decision
Support Frameworks and Systems
• Towards Building Solutions:
• A Research Agenda for School Analytics

4. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
4/27
The Need:
Technology-Supported School
Complexity Leadership

5. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
5/27
Schools in 21st Century
• Geographically distributed hubs that deliver locally
the centrally designed state curriculum, as the sum
of isolated teacher-led classrooms, preparing
students for a national final exam
or
• Accredited (at different levels) autonomous
educational organizations that compete for
providing better educational services to the society
at large (not only for their students)

6. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
6/27
Are Digital Technologies an enabler for Large
Scale School Education Reforms?
• Large Scale investments in digital technologies
infrastructure purchasing and installing technologies in
schools.
• Sporadic and isolated efforts from individual teachers to
innovate through reflective practice
• Yet, only opportunistic educational added-value and
transformative impact at school education …
WHY ?

7. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
7/27
Schools are social Complex Adaptive Systems
• Schools are social Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS):
Comprise a wide range of agents (e.g., students, teachers,
administrators, leaders, parents, policies, infrastructure, etc)
which co-exist, interplay and constantly evolve at different
layers of the “System”, influenced by the actions of other
agents
• As such, schools as organizational entities require an holistic
re-conceptualization from their stereotypical monolithic
consideration: “every-school-is-(should-be)-the-same”

8. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
8/27
• Two core school organizational layers:
o Micro Layer: teaching, learning and assessment practices occurring either
within the physical educational organization premises or beyond them
o Meso Layer: organizational development processes of the educational
organization
• Operating within an overarching “macro” level (policies, legislation,
etc)
Macro Layer
Meso Layer
Micro Layer
• Policy Makers/Society
• Legislations/Accountability
• School Leaders
• “Educational“ Intelligence Processes
• School Teachers, Students
• Teaching, Learning & Assessment
Processes

9. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
9/27
• School system agents operating in the two identified layers
(micro, meso) constantly produce educational data that
repeatedly generate feedback loops to these agents and to
the “System” as a whole
• These feedback loops and the collective behaviors of the
agents result in the formulation of the “System” status in a
process known as emergence
• The status of the School System at any point is not just a
linear sum of its constituent parts but isforged in a complex
manner by the characteristics and interactions of its agents.

10. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
10/27
School Complexity Leadership (SCL)
• In this context, School Complexity Leadership (SCL) posits
that credible and efficient strategic planning and outcomes
can not be devised by a single agent (e.g. the headmaster),
but are mainly the result of the actions and interactions of
all key “System” agents (e.g., teachers, parents, etc)
• Thus, school leaders and school teachers can benefit from
holistic and smart data-driven decision support
mechanisms which are based on the collection, analysis,
and interpretation of institution-wide educational data,
otherwise hidden within “black boxes”.

11. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
11/27
The Challenge:
Smart Data-driven Educational
Leadership Decision Support
Frameworks and Systems

12. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
12/27
Why Smart Data-driven Education Decision Support Systems
for School Complexity Leadership ?
• Effective school complexity leadership decisions need to be driven by evidence and
rich educational data generated at both layers (micro, meso), that monitor the
System’s emergence state and generate meaningful feedback loops towards
achieving improvements.
• Thus, a wide range of educational data need to be collected from an institution-
wide perspective. These educational data:
• are continuously generated so they need to be collected in a timely manner in order to
be meaningful for supporting leadership decisions
• need to be intelligently processed and visualized to monitor current emergence state
and then, identify and recommend meaningful feedback loops
• Performing these tasks manually and, at the same time, transparently and
collectively by the school leaders is beyond any realistic expectation.

13. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
13/27
Reflective School Complexity Leadership comprises tasks which span both school
organizational layers and exploit institution-wide educational data
Core School Leadership Tasks Examples of data types used School Layer
Learning Process (Design and) Monitoring • Teaching method employed
• Educational resources used
Micro
Learning Process Evaluation • Level of use of educational resources
• Learner assessment results
Learner Performance Monitoring • Attendance rates
• Level of engagement
Learner Performance Evaluation • Learner assessment results
Curriculum Planning • Learner assessment results
• School available resources
Meso
Teaching Staff Management (and
Recruiting) • Teaching methods employed
• Competence management
• Professional Development activitiesTeaching Staff Professional Development
District Stakeholder Accountability • Student retention rates
Infrastructural Resource Management • School physical / digital infrastructure
Financial Resource Management • School budget
Learner Data Management • Learner demographics
S. Sergis and D. Sampson, “Data Driven Decision Making For School Leadership: A Critical Analysis Of Supporting Systems”, in Ronghuai Huang, Kinshuk, and J.K. Price (Eds.), "ICT in
education in global context: comparative reports of K-12 schools innovation", Springer, 2015

14. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
14/27
Current School Leadership Decision Support Systems
• Ideally: aim to harvest, analyze and/or visualize diverse educational data
in a timely manner towards generating actionable insights for school
leadership
• We have reviewed 70 existing School Leadership Decision Support Systems:
o The majority of current DSS focus on assisting school leaders monitor school
elements related to externally mandated accountability requirements (e.g.,
students' summative assessment score data and/or retention rates)
o "Business" managerial tasks (e.g., management and strategic orchestration of the
schools' finances and infrastructure) are captured in isolation to other educational
leadership tasks
o Very limited focus is given to micro level educational data for driving internal school
improvement (e.g. a detailed formative and reflective evaluation of the teaching
practices employed by the teachers).
S. Sergis and D. Sampson, “Data Driven Decision Making For School Leadership: A Critical Analysis Of Supporting Systems”, in Ronghuai Huang, Kinshuk, and J.K. Price (Eds.), "ICT in
education in global context: comparative reports of K-12 schools innovation", Springer, [Submitted for Publication]

15. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
15/27
Limitations of Current School Leadership Decision
Support Systems
• Do not adequately accommodate the full spectrum of the core
school complexity leadership tasks
• Do not explicitly consider the interrelations between the collected
educational data from the two organizational layers (micro/meso)
and the manner in which these affect the overall school
performance
• Do not exploit current trends in teaching and learning analytics.
 Mainly Management rather than Leadership “tools”

16. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
16/27
Towards Building Solutions:
A Research Agenda for School
Analytics

17. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
17/27
Existing Analytics frameworks and systems for supporting
Educational Decision Support
• Two core Analytics strands have been put forward for supporting
Educational Decision Support:
o Academic Analytics: addressed at Higher Education Institutions for
supporting mainly meso layer leadership processes (e.g., management of
infrastructure, finances, faculty data, etc)
o Learning Analytics: addressed at all types of Education Institutions for
supporting mainly micro layer leadership processes (e.g., profiling
students, provision of feedback to teachers and students, etc)
S. Sergis and D. Sampson, "School Analytics: A Framework for Supporting School Complexity Leadership", in J. M. Spector, D. Ifenthaler, D. Sampson and P. Isaias
(Eds.), "Competencies, Challenges and Changes in Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership in the Digital Age", Springer, 2015

18. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
18/27
Limitations of Existing Analytics frameworks and systems
• Academic Analytics: Limited level of exploitation of the meso
layer educational data in combination towards capturing their
inter-relations and how this affects overall system performance
• Learning Analytics: Limited level of accommodation for
capturing educational data related to micro layer system agents
beyond the students (e.g., profiling and activity logging for the
teacher, teaching practices utilized, physical context affordances
etc.)
• Both: exploit available educational data from the different
layers in isolation

19. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
19/27
School Analytics Framework

20. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
20/27
Education Decision Support Systems for School Complexity
Leadership based on School Analytics
• School Analytics can provide a backbone framework for designing school leadership
analytics systems to:
o Collect, analyze and process granulated educational data from all organizational
layers (e.g., open-up classroom “black box”) [define “emergence status”]
o identify causal links between school organizational inputs and outputs (e.g., correlate
student outcomes to specific teaching practices employed within specific learning
contexts)
o generate evidence-based recommendations for strategic holistic school improvement
based on the inter-relations of the collected educational data (e.g., targeted teacher
professional development based on processing combined data from the teaching
practice and student performance) [recommend “feedback loops”]

21. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
21/27
Recent Publications within this Research Agenda
• S. Sergis and D. Sampson, "School Analytics: A Framework for Supporting School Complexity Leadership", in J. M.
Spector, D. Ifenthaler, D. Sampson and P. Isaias (Eds.), "Competencies, Challenges and Changes in Teaching, Learning
and Educational Leadership in the Digital Age", Springer, 2015
• S. Sergis and D. Sampson, "Data Driven Decision Support For School Leadership: Analysis Of Supporting Systems", in
Ronghuai Huang, Kinshuk, and Jon K. Price (Eds.), "ICT in education in global context: comparative reports of K-12
schools innovation", Springer, 2015
• S. Sergis, P. Zervas and D. Sampson, “A Holistic Approach for Managing School ICT Competence Profiles Towards
Supporting School ICT Uptake”, International Journal of Digital Literacy and Digital Competence (IJDLDC) 5(4), 33-
46,2015
• S. Sergis and D. Sampson, "From Teachers’ to Schools’ ICT Competence Profiles", in D. Sampson, D. Ifenthaler, J. M.
Spector and P. Isaias, (Eds.), Digital Systems for Open Access to Formal and Informal Learning, Springer, ISBN 978-3-
319-02263-5, Chapter 19, pp 307-327, 2014
• P. Zervas, K. Chatzistavrianos and D. Sampson, "Towards Modeling Teachers’ ICT Competence Profile in Europe", in R.
Huang, Kinshuk and J.K. Price (Eds.), ICT in Education in Global Context, Springer, 2014
• P. Zervas and D. Sampson, "Supporting Reflective Lesson Planning based on Inquiry Learning Analytics for Facilitating
Students’ Problem Solving Competence Development: The Inspiring Science Education Tools", in Ronghuai Huang,
Nian-Shing Chen and Kinshuk (Eds.), "Authentic Learning through Advances in Technologies” Springer, 2015
• S. Sergis and D. Samson, “Learning Objects Recommendations for Teachers based on elicited ICT Competence
Profiles”, IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies, 2015

22. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
22/27
From 1/10/2015
Research Professor of Learning Technologies
School of Education, Curtin University
Perth, Western Australia, Australia

23. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
23/27
Curtin
University
#271 in the world
(top 2%)
#11 in Australia
according to
Academic Ranking
of World
Universities 2015

24. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
24/27
School of Education @ Curtin University

25. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
25/27
School of Education @ Curtin University
Courses: Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Higher Degree by Research Courses
• 4 Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Education), (Primary Education), (Secondary
Education), (Conversion Course)
•2 Language Bachelor of Arts (Humanities) Chinese, Japanese
•Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary Education)
•Graduate Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
•Master of Arts (Applied Linguistics)
•Master of Education
•Master of Science (Science and Mathematics Education)
•Master of Philosophy (Education)
•Doctor of Philosophy (Education)
•Doctor of Education
SoE is also home to the internationally esteemed Science and Mathematics Education
Centre (SMEC). SMEC has one of the largest postgraduate programs in the world in
science and mathematics education, with students from all over the world.

26. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
26/27
City of Perth,
Western
Australia
#8
Best Place to live in
the World
according to The
Economist
Intelligence Unit -
EIU's latest Global
Liveability Ranking

27. University of Piraeus
Department of Digital Systems
Centre for Research and Technology – Hellas (CE.R.T.H.)
Information Technologies Institute (I.T.I.)
D. G. Sampson EDEN Open Classroom 2015 Conference
Advanced Digital Systems and Services for Education and Learning (ASK)
27/27
… stay in contact …
e-mail: Demetrios.Sampson@curtin.edu.au
twitter: @dem-sampson
Slideshare:
http://www.slideshare.net/Demetrios_Sampson
www.ask4research.info