Mapping the ethics of learning analytics in higher education: a systematic literature review of empirical research
Open accessAbstract
Ethics is a prominent topic in learning analytics that has been commented on from conceptual viewpoints. For a broad range of emerging technologies, systematic literature reviews have proven fruitful by pinpointing research directions, knowledge gaps, and future research work guidance. With these outcomes in mind, we conducted a systematic literature review of the research on ethical issues that have been empirically approached in the learning analytics literature. In our final analysis, 21 articles published in the period 2014–2019 met our inclusion criteria. By analyzing this data, we seek to contribute to the field of learning analytics by 1) characterizing the type of empirical research that has been conducted on ethics in learning analytics in the context of higher education, 2) identifying the main ethical areas addressed in the selected literature, and 3) pinpointing knowledge gaps.
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References 72 · Cited by 88
Research works printed but not linked: 9
- Cerratto Pargman, T. (2006). Pour une conception des technologies centrée sur l’activité du sujet. Le cas de l’écriture de groupe avec collecticiel [Towards the design of technologies centered on the activity of the subject. The case of collaborative writing with groupware]. In P. Rabardel & P. Pastré (Eds.), Dans modèles du sujet pour la conception: Dialectiques activités développement (pp. 157–188). Paris, France: Octarès.
- D’Ignazio, C., & Klein, L. F. (2020). Data feminism. London, UK: MIT Press.
- Johnson, J. A. (2018). Toward information justice: Technology, politics, and policy for data in higher education administration (Vol. 33). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
- Oblinger, D. G. (2012). Let’s talk... Analytics. Educause Review, 47(4), 10–13. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2012/7/lets-talk--analytics
- Selwyn, N. (2019). What’s the problem with learning analytics? Journal of Learning Analytics, 6(3), 11–19. https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2019.63.3 · DOI
- Cerratto Pargman, T., & McGrath, C. (2021). Mapping the Ethics of Learning Analytics in Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review of Empirical Research. Journal of Learning Analytics, 8(2), 123-139. https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2021.1
- Vol. 8 No. 2 (2021): Learning Analytics for Primary and Secondary Schools
- Teresa Cerratto Pargman, Cormac McGrath, Olga Viberg, Simon Knight, New Vistas on Responsible Learning Analytics , Journal of Learning Analytics: Vol. 10 No. 1 (2023): Fairness, Equity, and Responsibility in Learning Analytics
- ISSN 1929-7750 (online). Beginning with Issue 11(3), The Journal of Learning Analytics is published under a Creative Commons License, Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Please refer to the Journal's Copyright notice for more details.
- Authors
- Cerratto Pargman, T., & McGrath, C.
- Affiliations
- Stockholm University (SE)
- Venue
- Journal of Learning Analytics
- Published
- 2021-09-03
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 123-139
- ISSN
- 1929-7750 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3134677445
- Cited by
- 88
- References
- 72
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 4
- FWCI
- 2.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- Locations
- Journal of Learning Analytics (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Online Learning and Analytics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Academic integrity and plagiarism
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
- Keywords
- learning analytics, ethics, higher education, ethical considerations, knowledge gaps, research directions
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