The DOI matches its Crossref record; 67 of the 67 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Learning analytics in higher education: a preponderance of analytics but very little learning?
Open accessAbstract
In a context where learning mediated by technology has gained prominence in higher education, learning analytics has become a powerful tool to collect and analyse data with the aim of improving students’ learning. However, learning analytics is part of a young community and its developments deserve further exploration. Some critical stances claim that learning analytics tends to underplay the complexity of teaching-learning processes. By means of both a bibliometric and a content analysis, this paper examines the publication patterns on learning analytics in higher education and their main challenges. 385 papers that were published in WoScc and SciELO indexes between 2013 and 2019 were identified and analysed. Learning analytics is a vibrant and fast-developing community. However, it continues to face multiple and complex challenges, especially regarding students’ learning and their implications. The paper concludes by distinguishing between a practice-based and management-oriented community of learning analytics and an academic-oriented community. Within both communities, though, it seems that the focus is more on analytics than on learning.
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“They critiqued the prevailing focus on analytics over substantive learning improvements, advocating for a balanced approach that equally values pedagogical effectiveness alongside technological advancements (Drugova et al., 2024).”
From Unpacking student engagement in higher education learning analytics: a systematic review (2024) · cites this paper as Guzmán-Valenzuela et al. (2021)
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“[102] )ematic-based analysis approach Inefficient volume of data — Eclectic methodology will be applied for learning enhancement”
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“Overall, evidence about whether learning analytics and LADs improve learning in practice is scarce (Ferguson & Clow, 2017; Guzmán-Valenzuela et al., 2021; Knight et al., 2020; Rets et al., 2021; Wilson et al., 2017) and has room for further investigation.”
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“Even recent reviews, however, keep concluding that learning is missing from LA (Guzmán-Valenzuela et al., 2021).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Guzmán-Valenzuela, C., Gómez-González, C., Rojas-Murphy Tagle, A., & Lorca-Vyhmeister, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Tarapacá (CL)
- University of Valparaíso (CL)
- Corresponding author
- Guzmán-Valenzuela, Carolina
- Venue
- International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education
- Published
- 2021-05-04
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 23-23
- ISSN
- 2365-9440 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8092999
- OpenAlex
- W3163777542
- Cited by
- 131
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 35 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 5
- FWCI
- 2.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- FONDECYT (1200633, 1161413)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Online Learning and Analytics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Educational and Technological Research
- Social Sciences › Education › Educational Technology in Learning
- Keywords
- learning analytics, higher education, publication trends, teaching-learning process, student learning, technology-mediated learning
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