Become a Member

SoLAR News

Get the latest information from SoLAR about learning analytics events and publications.

Home News

Recent News

  • Current SoLAR Executive Committee for 2021 President – Maren Scheffel, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB), GER Member at Large – Simon Buckingham Shum, University of Technology, Sydney, AUS Member at Large – Bodong Chen, University of Minnesota, USA Member at Large – Nia Dowell, University of California, Irvine, USA Member at Large – Isabel Hilliger, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, CHL The SoLAR Executive is pleased to present the following candidates as nominees for election to the SoLAR Executive. Over the years the candidate pool continues to grow with 2021 being our largest group of candidates to date. We are excited to see a great balance of career level (senior, mid-, early-career) amongst our candidates. There are 16 candidates for SIX available Member At-Large Positions. 4 candidates are current Executive Members running for their second and final term (* denotes a current Executive Member). There are 4 candidates for ONE available Student Member Position.   Voting Information: All SoLAR individual and students members are eligible to vote for all positions. Links to access the online voting system will be sent to SoLAR members via email starting on January 29, 2021 (Eastern Time). Voting will end on February 12, 2021 at 11:59pm Eastern. All members who join SoLAR by February 10, 2021 will be eligible to vote and will receive a ballot after successfully joining SoLAR. Any questions, please email solarsocietymgmt@gmail.com.

  • The SoLAR Executive Committee is pleased to announce the call for nominations for the 2021-2022 Executive Committee. Executive Committee members serve two year terms. Nominations are open for six member at-large positions and one student member. If you are interested in shaping and guiding how SoLAR continues to serve the growing learning analytics community please fill out this short google form with the following information by 5:00 pm EST January 22, 2021: Name Institution Short biography (max 200 words) Interest in Learning Analytics (Research Area, etc.) & Interest in serving on the SoLAR Executive Committee (max 200 words) SoLAR Working Group Interests – Please let the SoLAR community know which areas within our working groups you would be interested in chairing and/or becoming a member. To review the current SoLAR Working Groups, please review: https://dev.solaresearch.org/about/governance/solar-working-groups/ Photo – jpg suitable for web (200×200) SoLAR Membership ID number Only those who have valid 2021 SoLAR memberships are eligible to nominate and vote for Executive Positions. To be considered as a nominee you must be a member of SoLAR by January 21, 2021; to vote in the Executive Committee election you must be a member of SoLAR by February 10, 2021. To renew or join, visit: https://dev.solaresearch.org/membership/ Election Ballots will be sent to all SoLAR Members on January 29, 2021 (EST) and will close on February 12, 2021 (EST). Should you have any questions, please email info@solaresearch.org.

  • LAK21 Moves Fully Online

    October 26, 2020

    Special Announcement from LAK21 Organizers Dear Learning Analytics Community, Given the current realities of the global pandemic due to COVID-19, there continues to be uncertainty of international travel and mass gatherings for the foreseeable future. Taking these concerns into consideration, the LAK21 organizers and the Society for Learning Analytics Research have made the decision to host LAK21 fully online. SoLAR is making the decision at this time to enable planning specifically for this mode with the aim of creating an even more engaging and interactive conference program than the first virtual LAK. We hope to build on the success of LAK20 that was transitioned within 10 days from a hybrid event to a fully virtual event. Along with this update on the format of the conference, the official conference dates will also go back to the traditional Monday – Friday LAK schedule. Given the current circumstances, we understand that work-life balance is more important than ever therefore now that we no longer have to work around a physical venue, organizers believe that a Monday – Friday schedule is the best option. Monday & Tuesday will be pre-conference events and Wednesday – Friday will be the main conference. Please reserve Monday, April 12 – Friday, April 16, 2021 for LAK21. What does this mean for me? Authors/Presenters: As previously announced, virtual presentations were already being planned for LAK21. Now, all presentations will be held online. Finalized details will be shared as we continue to build out the program. Please continue to hold the official conference dates in your calendars to accommodate your LAK21 presentations. Attendees: All portions of the LAK21 conference such as full/short/practitioner presentations, workshops, posters/demos and doctoral consortium will still take place. Full information on the final length and presentation format will be shared soon as we finalize the details. Please continue to hold the official conference dates in your calendars to accommodate your attendance. Final scheduling details will be shared as we finalize the program. Please visit our FAQ page as we continue to answer your questions. Thank you for your understanding and we hope to see you online in April 2021! Should you have additional questions, please email lakconference@gmail.com.

  • A new SoLAR position paper titled “Creating Data for Learning Analytics Ecosystems” has been published. This position paper discusses the challenges faced by institutions as they seek to wrangle data from a portfolio of technology products and services to deliver rich learning experiences. It identifies a number of systemic failures that are leading many institutions to collect a large quantity of data that yields very few educationally relevant insights; from a lack of data policies to competition between vendors and standards. This position paper provides several high-level recommendations for three different sets of stakeholders to consider as they move towards a more mature implementation of LA: (i) Institutions procuring EdTech products; (ii) EdTech vendors seeking to deliver analytics products, and (iii) The LA community of practitioners. It also provides detailed evidence and examples in a series of appendices that are pitched at more technical members of your organisation as you seek to build a robust and useful learning analytics ecosystem. Read the full position paper at https://dev.solaresearch.org/publications/position-papers/

  • UPDATE: Virtual Presentations, and attendance, will be available for LAK21. This includes Workshops, Long and Short Research Papers, Practitioner Papers, Posters and Demos. The deadline for the CFP has been extended to provide more time for individuals to consider virtual options while preparing their submissions. The Organizing Committee continues to monitor the pandemic situation and ensure that a COVID-19 safe plan will be in place for all attendees. New CFP Deadlines are as follows: Updated Submission Deadlines: Sun, 1 Nov 2020: Deadline for full and short research papers, practitioner reports, and workshop/tutorial proposal submissions Tue, 17 Nov 2020: Deadline for doctoral consortium submissions Tue, 1 Dec 2020: Deadline for posters and interactive demo submissions Tue, 15 Dec 2020: Deadline for full and short research paper rebuttal (submissions open 8 Nov 2020) submissions Tue, 2 Feb 2021: Deadline for camera-ready versions of all accepted submissions Tue, 9 Feb 2021: Deadline for workshop paper submissions (submissions open 1 Dec 2020) Updated Acceptance Notifications: Tue, 24 Nov 2020: Notification of acceptance for workshops and tutorials Tue, 12 Jan 2020: Notification of acceptance for full and short research papers, practitioner reports, posters/demos, doctoral consortium Tue, 23 Feb 2021: Notification of acceptance for workshop papers   Should you have any questions regarding LAK21, please email lakconference@gmail.com.

  • The Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) condemns the murder and treatment of Black people and communities in the U.S. and worldwide, expressing its solidarity with peaceful non-violent protesters around the world and the Black Lives Matter movement. These current protests call our attention to lives lost to police and vigilante actions. Know their names: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Ahmaud Arbery, Corey Jones, Oscar Grant, Botham Jean, Rayshard Brooks… Their names, and the names of many others who have been killed, matter. We recognise that racial discrimination is pervasive also in academic institutions. We recognize that extant disparity influences our colleagues daily, and we must constantly listen, learn and reflect on how to identify and eliminate racial disparities. Our activities must reach beyond promoting the participation of underrepresented groups. We encourage members of our Society to mobilise our expertise and connections with communities to actively contribute to the hard work of promoting social justice and dismantling injustices in education. As a scientific society dedicated to the improvement of education, our goals first and foremost should be aimed towards expanding the understanding of minority experiences and challenges. It is our duty to educate ourselves and to focus more actively on how to create an equitable and just environment for all academics, and people our work impacts, free from racial discrimination. The SoLAR Executive would like to express its commitment to increase attention, effort and actions to remove unjust treatment and racial discrimination from our activities. The SoLAR executive, together with contributions from our members, will start collating and distributing resources about how the community can support this movement through gaining knowledge and taking action. — Executive Committee of SoLAR

  • The LASI organising team has been exploring options for hosting the event later in the year. Unfortunately, hosting a face to face event in 2020 is not viable in terms of either securing physical space at the university, individuals being able to travel and/or able to secure funding to attend. The LASI organising team also believe that hosting an online synchronous event (à la LAK20) is difficult to justify given the nature and purpose of LASI, diversity of time zones and the effort required. Taking all of the above into consideration, the decision from the SoLAR Executive is to concentrate on supporting local areas to host their own events – LASI Locals – virtually or face to face if that becomes possible in the final few months of the year. All registration fees will be fully refunded. Sincerely, LASI20 Organizers

  • We have been monitoring the global COVID-19 situation and unfortunately, the face to face meeting in New York in June 2020 will no longer be possible.  We are exploring different dates/formats for LASI, such as a virtual LASI, LASI Locals or a face to face meeting later in the year, and will have further information in the coming months on the new format, and possibly timing, of LASI20.  For Registered Attendees: We will be in touch as soon as a decision has been made. Should LASI20 be cancelled and/or transitioned to an online event, you will be contacted regarding any refund or transfer of registration.  Thank you for your patience in these unprecedented times.  Should you have any questions or concerns, please email solarsocietymgmt@gmail.com. Stay safe and healthy and we hope to post an update soon. Sincerely, LASI20 Organizers

  • We are pleased to present the following candidates as nominees for election to the SoLAR Executive: Candidates for SoLAR Executive Member at Large (13 Candidates, 4 Positions Available) Simon Buckingham Shum, University of Technology Sydney, AUS Bodong Chen, University of Minnesota, USA Guanliang Chen, Monash University, AUS Nia Dowell, University of California – Irvine, USA Victoria Dunnam, Consultant, USA Carrie Demmans Epp, University of Alberta, CAN Erkan Er, University of Valladolid, ES Christothea Herodotou, The Open University, UK Isabel Hilliger, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, CL Jorge Javier Maldonado Mahauad, Universidad de Cuenca (EC) / Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (CL) Rafael Ferreira Mello, Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, BR Pablo Munguia, RMIT University, AUS Hiroaki Ogata, Kyoto University, JPN Voting Information: All SoLAR individual and students members are eligible to vote for all positions. Links to access the online voting system will be sent to SoLAR members via email starting on January 17, 2020 (Eastern Time). Voting will end on January 31, 2020 at 11:59pm Eastern. All members who join SoLAR by January 29, 2020 will be eligible to vote and will receive a ballot after successfully joining SoLAR. Any questions, please email solarsocietymgmt@gmail.com

  • The issue 6(3) of the Journal of Learning Analytics (JL.A) is now available. This new issue contains a special Invited Dialogue sparked by Neil Selwyn’s follow-up article to his LAK18 keynote “What’s the Problem with Learning Analytics?”. Four senior members of the community holding diverse perspectives (Alfred Essa, Rebecca Ferguson, Paul Prinsloo, and Carolyn Rosé) each respond and discuss current challenges and opportunities for the field. The issue also presents four new research papers and two data and tool reports and an editorial laying the groundwork for a special JLA event at LAK2020. See the new issue of JLA HERE.

  • The SoLAR Executive Committee is pleased to announce the call for nominations for the 2020-2021 Executive Committee. Executive Committee members serve two year terms. Nominations are open for four members at-large positions on the 2020 SoLAR Executive Committee. If you are interested in shaping and guiding how SoLAR continues to serve the growing learning analytics community please send an email to: solarsocietymgmt@gmail.com with the following information by 5:00 pm EST January 10, 2020: Name Institution Short biography (max 200 words) Interest in Learning Analytics (Research Area, etc.) & Interest in serving on the SoLAR Executive Committee (max 200 words) SoLAR Working Group Interests – Please let the SoLAR community know which areas within our working groups you would be interested in chairing and/or becoming a member. To review the current SoLAR Working Groups, please review: https://dev.solaresearch.org/about/governance/solar-working-groups/ Photo – jpg suitable for web (200×200) SoLAR Membership ID number Only those who have valid 2020 SoLAR memberships are eligible to nominate and vote for Executive Positions. To be considered as a nominee you must be a member of SoLAR by January 10, 2020; to vote in the Executive Committee election you must be a member of SoLAR by January 29, 2020. To renew or join, visit: https://dev.solaresearch.org/membership/ Election Ballots will be sent to all SoLAR Members on January 17, 2020 (EST) and will close on January 31, 2020 (EST). 

  • SoLAR Executive Board member Professor Simon Buckingham-Shum was recently interviewed by ABC Radio on the topic of artificial intelligence, ethics and education. Listen to the full episode here https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/futuretense/artificial-intelligence,-ethics-and-education/11654930 Episode Summary: AI holds enormous potential for transforming the way we teach, says education technology expert Simon Buckingham Shum, but first we need to define what kind of education system we want. Also, the head of the UK’s new Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation warns democratic governments that they urgently need an ethics and governance framework for emerging technologies. And Cognizant’s Bret Greenstein on when it would be unethical not to use AI. Guests Roger Taylor – Chair of the UK Government’s Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation Simon Buckingham Shum – Professor of Learning Informatics, University of Technology Sydney, leader of the Connected Intelligence Centre; co-founder and former Vice-President of the Society for Learning Analytics Research Bret Greenstein – Senior Vice President and Global head of AI and Analytics, Cognizant

  • SoLAR is happy to announce a new webinar series in conjunction with the Learning Analytics podcast, SoLAR Spotlight. The webinar series will provide a bi-monthly webinar on the months where there is no podcast episode. For the month of August, we were happy to feature, Dr. Professor Simon Buckingham Shum from the University of Technology Sydney titled, “Learning Analytics as Educational Knowledge Infrastructure.” With close to 100 participants registered, we are excited to continue to offer webinars bi-monthly from different parts of the world to allow our participants and community members to listen in live from different time zones spanning the globe. If you missed our first webinar, here is the replay – “Learning Analytics as Educational Knowledge Infrastructure” on our YouTube Channel. PDF slides available. Next Up: Webinar #2: “Designing Learning Analytics for Humans with Humans” with Professor Alyssa Wise from New York University – Wednesday, October 16, 12:00pm to 1:00pm Eastern Time. Abstract: Learning analytics (LA) is a technology for enabling better decision-making by teachers, students, and other educational stakeholders by providing them with timely and actionable information about learning-in-process on an ongoing basis. To be effective LA tools must thus not only be technically robust but also designed to support use by real people. One powerful strategy for achieving this goal is to involve those who will (hopefully!) use the learning analytics in their design. This can be done by observing existing (pre-analytic) teaching and learning practices, gathering information from intended users, or directly engaging them in participatory design. Such attention to people and context contributes to the development of Human-Centered Learning Analytics (see the recent special section in JLA 6(2)). In this webinar, I’ll present a diverse set of examples of the ways that NYU’s Learning Analytics Research Network (NYU-LEARN) is including educators and students in the process of building and implementing learning analytics. We’ll look at examples of how to: involve students in the creation and revision of learning analytics solutions for their own use; work with instructors to align analytically available metrics with valued course pedagogy; and partner with an educational team to design and implement interventions based on at-risk students predictions. Webinar attendees will gain a sense of both the conceptual issues and practical concerns involved in designing learning analytics for humans with humans. Register Here for Webinar #2 All webinar recordings will be made available on our official Youtube channel.

  • The Society for Learning Analytics Research is proud to present a new series of Podcasts for our growing community! The new series is titled, SoLAR Spotlight! SoLAR Spotlight will be a place where we discuss some big ideas and trends in research and practice of learning analytics. The first episode features the current president of SoLAR, Professor Abelardo Pardo from the University of South Australia. Hope you enjoy it! If you would like to share your thoughts on the content of our podcast or take a guess on the answer to the ‘Two Truths and One Lie’ game that we played in the podcast, please Tweet us using #solarspotlight. New episodes will come every two months, so stay tuned! To find the first episode, please visit: http://bit.ly/solarep1

  • On 22 March 2019, the team from Ogata Lab at University of Kyoto hosted the International Symposium on Evidence-Based Education through Learning Analytics. The event was attended by more than 300 delegates from industry and educational institutions from Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The event included keynote presentations from representatives of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, RIKEN (largest research institution in Japan), and the Society for Learning Analytics Research. In addition, the event included a panel discussion on how to utilize and apply education data that featured presentations from various researchers in the area. The session finished with the presentation of several case studies of the use of data to collect evidence of learning and how it is being used in current institutions. The event was followed on 23 March by a workshop on Reading Behaviour Analytics in which researchers from several institutions shared their work on exploring how students make use of digital textbooks. More details about the event at http://eds.let.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp/?page_id=851

  • A new paper exploring the ethical issues related to Learning Analytics in the context of the Australian Higher Education sector has been published. The discussion of these issues has resonated in this community since its initial stages (see the keynote presentation at the 2018 edition of the International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge by Professor Neil Selwyn for an example). In our interaction with institutional stakeholders, we have detected the need to complement existing policies and frameworks with more precise deployment guidelines. This paper brings together numerous principles, frameworks, and studies proposed in the past and tries to distil concrete guidance with respect to seven key considerations. Although the paper is written in the context of the Australian Higher Education sector, its findings will have an easy translation to other contexts and for sure will contribute to cement these considerations as an intrinsic part of the field. Read the full discussion paper at https://melbourne-cshe.unimelb.edu.au/research/research-projects/edutech/the-ethical-use-of-learning-analytics

  • We are pleased to present the following candidates as nominees for election to the SoLAR Executive: Candidates for SoLAR Executive Member at Large (10 Candidates, 6 Positions Available) Sheridan Gentili, University of South Australia, Australia Vitomir Kovanovic, University of South Australia, Australia Anouschka van Leeuwen, Utrecht University, the Netherlands Zachary Pardos, University of California, Berkeley, USA Sasha Poquet, National University of Singapore, Singapore Maren Scheffel, Open University of the Netherlands Craig Thompson, University of British Columbia, Canada Yi-Shan Tsai, University of Edinburgh, UK Jose Ruiperez-Valiente, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA Lorenzo Vigentini, University of New South Wales, Australia   Candidates for SoLAR Executive Student Member (3 Candidates, 1 Positions Available) Shibani Antonette, University of Technology Sydney, Australia Sadia Nawaz, University of Melbourne, Australia Quan Nguyen, Open University, UK   Voting Information: All SoLAR individual and students members are eligible to vote for all positions. Links to access the online voting system will be sent to SoLAR members via email starting on January 11, 2019 (Eastern Time). Voting will end on January 25, 2019 at 11:59pm Eastern. All members who join SoLAR within that time frame will be eligible to vote and will receive a ballot after successfully joining SoLAR. Any questions, please email solarsocietymgmt@gmail.com

  • Interested in Guiding the Future of SoLAR? Nominations are now open for six member at-large positions and one student member on the 2019 SoLAR Executive Committee. If you are interested in shaping and guiding how SoLAR continues to serve the growing learning analytics community please send a brief email to: nicole@solaresearch.org with the following information by 5:00 pm EDT January 4, 2019: Name Institution/Organization Interest in Learning Analytics (max 100 words) Short biography (max 200 words) Photo – jpg suitable for web (approximately 200×200) Only those who have valid 2019 SoLAR memberships are eligible to nominate and vote for Executive Positions. To renew or join, visit: https://dev.solaresearch.org/membership/   Featured Lightbulb Icon from Vectors by Vecteezy.com

  • SoLAR Executive Minutes July 19, 2018 5:00 pm Eastern (NY Time) via ZOOM   Attendance: Rebecca Ferguson, Stephanie Teasley, Xavier Ochoa, Grace Lynch, Vitomir Kovanovic, Leah Macfadyen, Chris Brooks, Abelardo Pardo, Simon Buckingham Shum, Hiroaki Ogata, Nicole Hoover, Sasha Poquet, Srecko Joksimovic, Shenita Ray, Hendrik Drachsler Regrets: none Recorders: Leah Macfadyen, Nicole Hoover, Grace Lynch   AGENDA Approval of Minutes – (1 min) President’s Report – (10 min) Financial Report – (2 min) Events – (8 min) LASI18 LASI19 LAK19 LAK20 Updates from Working Groups – (35 min) Inclusion Communication Website Membership Education SIGS Events Fundraising Other Business (4 min) Decisions Summary: Decision: Approve Education committee motion; “The SoLAR exec approves the SoLAR in-cooperation status for the edX MOOC series on LA requested by Justin Dellinger on 25.05.2018.” APPROVED.

  • SoLAR Executive Minutes June 11, 2018 5:00 pm Eastern (NY Time) via ZOOM   Attendance: Rebecca Ferguson, Stephanie Teasley, Xavier Ochoa, Grace Lynch, Vitomir Kovanovic, Leah Macfadyen, Chris Brooks, Abelardo Pardo, Simon Buckingham Shum, Hiroaki Ogata, Nicole Hoover, Sasha Poquet  Regrets: Srecko Joksimovic, Shenita Ray, Hendrik Drachsler Recorders: Leah Macfadyen, Nicole Hoover, Grace Lynch   AGENDA Approval of Minutes – (1 min) President’s Report – (5 min) Financial Report – (2 min) Events – (8 min) LAK18 LASI18 LAK19 LAK20 Updates from Working Groups – (40 min) Inclusion Communication Strategic Planning Website Membership Education SIGS Events Fundraising Other Business (4 min) Decisions Summary: No Motions    

  • We are proud to introduce our newly formed Educational Committee that is looking forward to proposal for learning analytics educational programs that are interested in a SoLAR in-coopertation status.

  • Learning analytics holds great potential to address the challenges confronting higher education institutions. While the use of learning analytics has gained much attention and has been/is being adopted by many higher education institutions in Europe and the world, the maturity levels of higher education institutions in terms of being “student data informed” are only in the early stages. The SHEILA project set out to address this gap by developing a framework that will help higher education institutions to adopt learning analytics systemically. We are proud to present Conference on Supporting Higher Education to Integrate Learning Analytics organized in-cooperation with SoLAR.

  • We are pleased to present the following candidates as nominees for election to the SoLAR Executive. This individual will hold the position of the newly created Inclusion Chair role. All SoLAR individual and students members are eligible to vote for all positions. Links to access the online voting system will be sent to SoLAR members via SurveyMonkey to your email. Ballots will close on May 1, 2018 at 5:00pm Eastern Time. Any questions, please email solarsocietymgmt@gmail.com Candidates for SoLAR Executive Member & Inclusion Chair (9 Candidates, 1 Positions Available)   Golnaz Arastoopour Irgens, USA Northwestern University Short explanation of ideas for the roles, responsibilities and outcomes of the Inclusion Chair: The SoLAR Inclusion chair creates a supportive climate for marginalized and underrepresented groups in learning analytics research and cultivates diverse membership in terms of ethnicity, race, gender identification, geography, and disciplines. The chair is responsible for leading a working group, many of whom are members of underrepresented groups in learning analytics. To recruit members, the chair creates promotional materials that welcome and support all people, and she partners with inclusion committees at various research institutions. The chair also creates opportunities for purposeful dialogues on issues surrounding diversity and inclusion. She organizes special sessions at LAK/LASI and advocates for funding for those who are historically underrepresented in technology-oriented fields (such as white women, women of color, men of color, and first-generation college students) and for those conducting research on broadening participation. To implement these initiatives, the chair will collaborate closely with the SoLAR Executive Committee. To evaluate progress, she measures diversity growth in SoLAR and the impact of these initiatives using surveys and interviews. Overall, these initiatives will establish a culture where all SoLAR members feel empowered to freely express their viewpoints and will maximize the potential and contribution of all individuals, not just those who are highly represented. Biography: Golnaz Arastoopour Irgens is a postdoctoral researcher with both the Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling (CCL) and the Tangible Interaction Design and Learning (TIDAL) Lab at Northwestern University. While earning her B.S. degree in mechanical engineering, she worked as a computer science instructor and curriculum designer for Campus Middle School for Girls in Urbana, IL. She then earned her M.A. in mathematics education at Columbia University and taught mathematics in the Chicago Public School system for two years. Working with the Epistemic Games Group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Golnaz focused her Ph.D. research on modeling and measuring connected design learning in engineering digital learning environments using discourse network analytics. Her current research examines the intersection of STEM practices and computational thinking and centers on how to model and measure computational practices and thinking.   Duygu Bektik, UK The Open University Short explanation of ideas for the roles, responsibilities and outcomes of the Inclusion Chair: Over the last 10 years, I have been passionately involved in supporting the gender equity, particularly in the computing field. This “inclusion chair” position appears to be an ideal blend of my research in learning analytics (LA), and expertise in promoting gender diversity in the STEM. I am particularly impressed by the fact that the position is for working towards creating “ILIAC: Inclusive LearnIng Analytics Community” and making the LA research open to all age, gender, and ethnic groups to promote an inclusive environment. Inclusion in the context of SoLAR would refer to a broad range of socio-technical approaches that enable the participation of all LA researchers from across the disciplines while lowering and removing barriers that impede specific groups. As SoLAR Inclusion Chair, I would be particularly aiming to support young generations of LAK researchers, aka doctoral students, to aspire to and reach their full potential and be part of the LAK community and become the torchbearers of the LA field. To do so, potential work would include ensuring gender diverse doctoral consortiums, providing scholarship opportunities to female students whose work are accepted for presentation, designing a mentoring scheme to give career development opportunities and plug the information gap for students with no prior connection to SoLAR, and strategically targeting the diverse range of students not just from the computing/technology departments, but also across the disciplines including social sciences, and humanities, and building a reputation as SoLAR of choice for women scientists. Biography: Dr Duygu Bektik is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at the Open University, UK’s Institute of Educational Technology. She did her undergaduate degree in Computer Science and Educational Technologies at the Bilkent University, Turkey, followed by a Software Engineering degree. She completed her Ph.D. degree in discourse-focused learning analytics in 2016 and has presented her research at various LAK conferences since 2012. She is a strong advocate for gender equity, especially in STEM subjects. She has been involved in several women in computing-related activities for the last 10 years, including events led by influential tech companies such as Google and Facebook. Previously, she worked for BILWIC, Bilkent ACM-W Student Chapter and Club for Women in Computing, as the Vice Chair for two years. BILWIC’s aim was to provide mentorship programs for female students in computing and support their technical needs through hands-on activities. The club aimed to provide role models for female students by organising seminars and conferences in order to bring students together with successful women in academic and business areas of computing. As part of BilWIC’s mission, Duygu worked to create a social environment for female university students with common interests, ambitions, and concerns while guiding them in the direction of computing-related fields. She currently works for the ACM-W Europe’s womENcourage conference as a member of the program committee and poster organisation chair.   Cassandra Colvin, Australia Charles Sturt University Short explanation of ideas for the roles, responsibilities and outcomes of the Inclusion Chair: If successful in my application for the Inclusion Chair, I would work closely with the SoLAR executive, and broader community to: – Understand the diversity in the community – its make-up and profile – through the lenses of gender, age, culture, citizenship, discipline background – and other …

  • The Society for Learning Analytics Research is proud to announce an open call for nominations for a new role on the SoLAR Executive Committee. We are now accepting nominations for an Inclusion Chair. This new chair would be a member of the SoLAR Executive Committee and would serve for a term of two years before becoming eligible for re-election to the Executive Committee. The Inclusion Chair role and responsibilities will include but is not limited to the following: recruit and oversee the Inclusion Working Group/Portfolio, develop a strategic plan aimed at the society’s goal to promote, elevate and foster an open and inclusive environment; recruit a balanced, diverse (gender, geographic, thematic, etc.) and welcoming membership, work with the SoLAR Executive and Inclusion Working Group to implement and monitor inclusion and diversity initiatives within the strategic plan, collaborate with the Strategic Planning Working Group to ensure the alignment of inclusion initiatives with overall SoLAR strategy, work with the Communications Chair to ensure dissemination of activities, measure and present the impact and overall effectiveness of inclusion initiatives. As stated, this is an open call for nominations. Only those who have valid 2018 SoLAR memberships are eligible to nominate and vote for Executive Positions. To renew or join, visit: https://dev.solaresearch.org/membership/. To nominate, please email the below information to solarsocietymgmt@gmail.com with the subject line, “Inclusion Chair Nomination,” by April 17, 2018. Voting will begin on April 19, 2018 and will close on May 1, 2018. All dates and times in Eastern Time. Name Institution Provide a short explanation of your ideas for the roles, responsibilities and outcomes of the Inclusion Chair and this new working group (max 200 words) Short biography (max 200 words) Photo – jpg suitable for web

  • It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to Sydney, Australia, for the 8th International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (LAK18). The Conference is organised annually by the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) and is hosted this year by The University of Sydney. As usual, the research papers are published as an archival Proceedings by the ACM, but there is far more to LAK than those contributions, which is reflected in the present Companion Proceedings, published in open access by SoLAR. This Companion Proceedings is more comprehensive than in previous years, incorporating all workshop proceedings. In addition, here you will find practitioner papers, extended abstracts, all posters & demonstrations, the LAK hackathon and doctoral consortium papers. Read more here.

  • We are pleased to present the following candidates as nominees for election to the SoLAR Executive. All SoLAR individual and students members are eligible to vote for all positions. Links to access the online voting system will be sent to SoLAR members via email. Any questions, please email solarsocietymgmt@gmail.com Candidates for SoLAR Executive Member at Large (9 Candidates, 4 Positions Available)   Simon Buckingham Shum, Australia University of Technology, Sydney Interest in Learning Analytics: Coming from the human sciences, I bring specific interests in the human dimensions of Learning Analytics — firstly the cognitive, social and organisational adoption factors, and secondly, analytics to advance future-focused pedagogy that equips learners for the future of work. I co-edited the Journal of Learning Analytics special section on Learning Analytics for 21st Century Competencies, and work on the role of analytics to give learners better feedback on higher order competencies such as writing, teamwork and dispositions. My passion is to see SoLAR and LAK carve a distinctive niche as a discipline, able to promote high quality dialogue and build common ground across disciplinary silos and researcher-practitioner-vendor boundaries. Biography: Simon Buckingham Shum is Professor of Learning Informatics at the University of Technology Sydney, which he joined as Director in August 2014 to launch the new Connected Intelligence Centre. He brings a Human-Centred Informatics (HCI) approach to his work, with a background in Psychology, Ergonomics, and HCI, and extensive work on visual hypertext as a tool for personal and collective sensemaking. He co-edited Visualizing Argumentation (2003) followed by Knowledge Cartography (2008/2014), and Constructing Knowledge Art (2015). Simon brings experience in directing an institutional learning analytics centre, and has been active in shaping the field of Learning Analytics since the inaugural LAK 2011 conference, serving as Program Co-Chair in 2012 and 2018, and a regular keynote speaker. He was a co-founder of SoLAR, serving on the Executive until 2014, including as a Vice-President. Prior to UTS, Simon was Professor and Assoc. Director at the UK Open University’s Knowledge Media Institute, a 70-strong R&D lab focused on the future of knowledge technologies for societal learning.   Matt Farrell, Canada Fanshawe College Interest in Learning Analytics: Any strategy for student success in the 21st century must include a learning analytics component. As a faculty development consultant, I strive to promote learning analytics, and assist instructors as they explore data-driven instruction. I emphasize the importance of learning design to promote student success. Additionally, at my institution, I have created and facilitated workshops to share best practices for faculty getting started with learning analytics. I have also founded a Learning Analytics Research Group at the college, where faculty can share ideas and explore new applications for student data. Biography: Matt Farrell graduated from the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, where he majored in Economics and Political Science, respectively. After five years in the private sector, he returned to Laurier for graduate work, earning a Master’s degree in Political Science. Matt has been teaching in higher education since September 2007; he teaches a number of interdisciplinary courses in the social sciences. In addition to his teaching duties, Matt works as an educational developer leading workshops for faculty and supporting teaching with technology initiatives. He has presented at conferences across the country, promoting data-driven teaching practices and talking about the importance of learning analytics research. You may also recognize Matt from CTV News where he provides analysis of municipal, provincial, and federal politics or from CBC Radio where he serves as a columnist during election campaigns.   Rebecca Ferguson, United Kingdom The Open University, UK Interest in Learning Analytics: Rebecca’s focus is on the foundations and futures of learning analytics. She was a leading member of the EU’s Learning Analytics Community Exchange (LACE), which led an international study of the future of learning analytics. She followed this up with work for the EU on  developing educational policy in relation to learning analytics. She was one of the originators of the term ‘social learning analytics’ and continues to research this area, including recent work on large MOOC datasets associated with the FutureLearn platform. Biography: Rebecca Ferguson is a senior lecturer in the Institute of Educational Technology (IET) at The Open University in the UK, and a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her primary research interests are educational futures and how people learn together online. She has been an executive member of the Society for Learning Analytics Research since 2016, during which time she has acted as one of the Programme Chairs for LAK 18. Her work in learning analytics has been influential in shaping the field, supporting implementation across Europe, and promoting a focus on social learning analytics. She has been invited to lead events in this area on five continents, including several associated with her work as principal investigator on the European Learning Analytics Community Exchange (LACE) and on LAEP, a project that helped European policymakers to set out an agenda for high-quality and stimulating ways of learning and teaching through the use of learning analytics.   James Folkestad, United States Colorado State University Interest in Learning Analytics: James Folkestad has focused on learning analytics research since the mid-2000s, with a strong focus on the ethics of learning analytics and the implications of learning analytics for neuro-diversity. He spent much of the past year leading efforts at Colorado State to establish policies regarding the use of learning analytics in instruction, faculty and student evaluation, and curriculum development. His research interests include the effects of pedagogical designs that place the student at the center and that privilege the student and teacher relationship as well as the design of digital learning content that enables learning analytics for student learning purposes. Biography: James Folkestad is Professor of Education at Colorado State University, where he serves as founding director of the Center for Analytics of Learning and Teaching, a cross-disciplinary research center that supports faculty-driven research projects that use academic analytics, learning analytics, and educational data mining methods to investigate questions related to learning and …

  • Nominations are still open for four positions on the SoLAR Executive Committee. If you are interested in shaping and guiding how SoLAR continues to serve the growing learning analytics community please send a brief email to: solarsocietymgmt@gmail.com with the following information by 5:00 pm EST January 28, 2018: Name Institution Interest in Learning Analytics (max 100 words) Short biography (max 200 words) Photo – jpg suitable for web Only those who have valid 2018 SoLAR memberships are eligible to nominate and vote for Executive Positions. To renew or join, visit: https://dev.solaresearch.org/membership/

  • Join us at LASI’18!

    December 22, 2017

  • Membership in SoLAR includes discounted registration rates for LAK and LASI. This year we are introducing a more secure way of delivering your individual registration discount code. Once you renew your membership, your code will be available on your profile page. In case you forgot username and/or password, please contact us. We are always happy to help! Fortunately, there are only two steps to reveal your code. After you receive an email about successful registration, you should login to your profile page: Once you are successfully logged in to your profile page, you should be able to see your membership code in the field labeled “Membership ID”, towards the end of the profile page: That’s it! You will need to enter this code when registering for LAK or LASI.

  • LASI-Asia 2016

    September 17, 2016

    The LASI-Asia 2016 will run 19-20 September in Seoul. To share global experiences and outcomes with Asian people, major international organizations and stakeholders related to learning analytics participate in this event as organizers and sponsors. ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36 (Information Technology for Learning, Education, and Training) and IMS Global Learning Consortium will share their outcomes for reference model and learning data APIS for learning analytics, and the Learning Analytics Community Exchange (LACE) project – an initiative funded by the EU’s FP7 programme – will share its research outcomes. Keynote addresses from Dai Griffiths, Simon Buckingham Shum, Charles Severance and Rob Abel will give insights for global collaboration and envisioning learning analytics for the future. Also many case studies and research outcomes to realize learning analytics will be introduced in this conference and workshops. In particular, standardization communities, LACE project and SIG of SoLAR will get momentum and move forward for learning data APIs interoperability through collaboration from the LASI-Asia 2016. Learn more on the LASI-Asia 2016 website: http://www.lasi-asia.org.

  • BayLearn

    September 17, 2016

    Bay Area Learning Analytics Network (BayLearn) BayLearn will be a regional event to facilitate the exchange of information, case studies, ideas, and early stage research in the field of learning analytics. From this event, we aim to grow a local network of researchers and professionals in the field of learning analytics, which can be used to exchange and validate innovative ideas and to provide local access to research and expertise. The initial meeting of this organization will be an official Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) FLARE event. SoLAR is an inter-disciplinary network of leading international researchers who are exploring the role and impact of analytics on teaching, learning, training and development. BayLearn 2016 Meeting September 30, 1-7 pm, SRI International (Palo Alto). In this kick-off meeting for BayLearn, we want to bring together the learning analytics community in the Bay area to discuss innovations and challenges in learning analytics. Click here for more information and registration.

  • We are pleased to announce new academic and industry job vacancies. More details available at SoLAR Job Board!

  • Available now! The Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) just finished uploading video recordings of most LAK16 presentations. They are all available directly from the conference program or on the SoLAR’s official Youtube channel in the LAK16 playlist. LASI’16 video recordings are available on our official Youtube channel, as well.

  • The Connected Intelligence Centre at the University of Technology Sydney is pleased to announce the launch of their doctoral program in Learning Analytics, offering three UTS Scholarships to begin your research at the start of 2016. CIC’s mission is to invent, evaluate and theorise the design of human-centered data science and learning analytics to advance the UTS Teaching & Learning program. As you will see from our Research Themes and the three PhD topics advertised, a core theme is analytics techniques to nurture in learners the creative, critical, sensemaking qualities needed for lifelong learning, employment and citizenship in a complex, data-saturated society. While our first priority is the future of learning and teaching, we also anticipate broader applications of the tools we develop, to address data science challenges in other research fields and in UTS business operations. We invite you to apply for a place if you are committed to working in a transdisciplinary team to invent user-centered analytics tools in close partnership with the UTS staff and students who are our ‘clients’. Please explore the website so you understand the context in which we work, and the research topics we are supervising. We look forward to hearing why you wish to join CIC, and how your background, skills and aspirations could advance this program.

  • After a successful meeting of people interested in learning analytics last year, the Learning Analytics Community Exchange (LACE) project will be holding a another exciting SoLAR Flare event at The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK, on Friday October 9, 2015 from 9:30am to 4:45pm. This is a networking gathering for everyone interested in learning analytics. Under the auspices of the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) and organised by Europe’s Learning Analytics Community Exchange (LACE), this event forms part of an international series. SoLAR Flares provide opportunities to learn what’s going in learning analytics research and practice, to share resources and experience, and to forge valuable new connections. The theme for this SoLAR Flare is “Research into Practice” with the day designed to maximise social learning including: a chance to introduce yourself and what you want to know about learning analytics plenty of opportunities to meet with peers and explore collaboration possibilities the chance to hear — and share — lightning updates on what’s happening (volunteer to do one on the registration form) time to explore the future of learning analytics The day will also include opportunities to learn about how learning analytics are being put into practice in both formal and informal learning environments. Confirmed speakers include: Chris Ballard, Innovation Consultant, Tribal Labs Bart Rienties, Reader in Learning Analytics, The Open University, UK Doug Clow, Senior lecturer at The Open University, UK Patrick McAndrew, Director of the Institute for Educational Technology (IET) at The Open University, UK Learn More Full event description Access the programme and presentations Sign-up to join in person in Milton Keynes Join the livestream from 10am–1pm (BST) Enter the Twitter discussion: #LACEFlare    

  • The 2014 – 2015 Learning Analytics Speaker Series at Emory University hosted by the  Institute for Quantitative Theory and Methods aims to stimulate conversations about the use of educational data to promote student success, however that may be conceived. Charles Dziuban (October 2014) In October 2014 , Charles Dziuban (Director of the Research Initiative for Teaching Effectiveness, University of Central Florida) delivered a compelling lecture on the learning analytics through an effective teaching and learning perspective. He compared student success rates in varying course modalities, and showed the characteristics of excellent instructors from the student point of view using concepts such as the Anna Karenina Phenomenon. Chuck’s talk is well summarized in a story by Leslie King for the Emory Report: Statistician Explores how Faculty can Excel in Blended Learning Environments Alyssa Wise (November 2014) In November 2014, Alyssa Wise (Associate Professor of Educational Technology & Learning Design, Simon Fraser University) discussed the need to consider how educational data might be embedded within learning environments themselves, as an integral part of the teaching and learning process.  She presented a framework for linking pedagogical intent and student activity through data-based reflection, and used work from the E-Listening Project at Simon Fraser University as an initial example of how this framework might me implemented. Upcoming Talks (in 2015) In Spring 2015, the speaker series will continue with lectures from Ryan Baker, John Whitmer, and Dragan Gašević.  As with lectures in the series from Fall 2014, these will be professionally recorded, produced, and made publicly available via the Emory University YouTube Channel. For more information about the Learning Analytics Speaker Series, and about learning analytics at Emory University more generally, please visit Analytics for Learning at Emory (ALE).

  • The 2014 Australian Learning Analytics Summer Institute (ALASI) will run 20-21 November in Sydney. ALASI adds another node to SoLAR’s international network of community and discipline-building events. Building on the success of last year, ALASI is the premier forum in Australia for the exchange of knowledge and innovation in learning analytics. Keynote addresses from Gregor Kennedy and Anne Young will offer distinctive leader / researcher / practitioner perspectives, and will combine with workshops, tutorials and panel discussions to create a friendly, challenging event: engage with the national community right at the intersection of data, algorithms, pedagogy and strategy. Learn more on the ALASI website…

  • LACE SoLAR Flare in October

    September 8, 2014

    The Learning Analytics Community Exchange (LACE) project – an initiative funded by the EU’s FP7 programme – will be holding a SoLAR Flare event at The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK, on Friday 24 October 2014 from 10am to 4.30pm. We are inviting technology specialists, teachers, researchers, educators, ICT purchasing decision-makers, senior leaders, business intelligence analysts, policy makers, funders, students, and companies to join us in Milton Keynes. We have designed the day to maximise social learning, including: plenty of opportunities to meet with peers and explore collaboration possibilities the chance to hear – and share – lightning updates on what’s happening (volunteer to do one on the registration form) time to learn about, and contribute to, the LACE Evidence Hub, which brings together research and experience in a readily accessible form discussions about future directions for learning analytics You can register for the event here.  

  • The Society for Learning Analytics research is pleased to announce that the CFP for the 5th International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge “Scaling Up: Big Data to Big Impact” is now open. The conference will take place March 16-20, 2015 at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY. As we move forward to our 5th annual conference, the theme for LAK’15 shifts the focus from data to impact, reinforcing the notion that Learning Analytics is on the cusp of scalability and continues to grow in importance in education and learning. We invite papers that address the impact of learning analytics and especially encourage submissions that demonstrate how the work is relevant to improving learning for people of all ages, leverages the technologies available to today’s learners, and is scalable within the many places where learning occurs. To accomplish these goals, we seek theoretically motivated papers that utilize analytics to provide direction for understanding and impacting learning. For details on submitting conference papers please see the full Call for Papers and Author Instructions online. The deadline for submissions is October 14, 2014.

  • As many of you will know, in just over a week Harvard University will host the 2014 Learning Analytics Summer Institute June 30 – July 2. Check out the programme, with keynotes and panels livestreaming and repayable. If you can’t get to Harvard, there may be a LASI-Local event within reach of you if you want to connect with colleagues in your region. And don’t forget that you can also still set up your own low-key LASI-Local, for just you and a few colleagues to tune into Harvard’s livestreams/replays, and all the other LASI-Locals. There are many ways to engage… Sessions from Harvard will be live-streamed and replayable — details on how to view online at LASI-Locals Create a LASI-Local for your community, and track news and views in the Community space. Gatherings currently being planned in The Netherlands (Utrecht) Spain (Madrid)    Egypt (Cairo)  USA (Madison)  Hong Kong. Blog your reflections on LASI and contribute to the LASI-Blog Aggregator Share your photos: upload to Flickr, tag them lasi2014, ensure they’re set as public, will show in public searches, and we’d encourage a CC license. They’ll then display in the LASI-Blog Aggregator Twitter #lasi2014

  • Following LAK’14, SoLAR, Marist College, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison jointly held an Open Learning Analytics Summit in Indianapolis that brought together representatives from the learning analytics and open source software development fields to explore how open source communities can accelerate the potential of learning analytics to provide new tools for understanding and improving learning and teaching. One of the major outcomes of the Summit was the identification of a number of domains for future work by the OLA community. These include: open research (e.g. open datasets, open predictive models, etc.), institutional strategy and policy issues, learning sciences/learning design, and open standards/open-source software. Future face-to-face gatherings include informal meetings at the 2014 Open Apereo Conference in Miami, Florida (June 1–4, 2014), a series of community events in Europe organized by the Learning Analytics Community Exchange (LACE) project, and another major OLA Summit at LAK’15 (March 16-20, 2015) at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York.

  • LASI’14 (the Second Learning Analytics Summer Institute) is a strategic event designed to bring together an inter-disciplinary mix of people working with learning analytics for an intensive ‘summer camp’ that will serve as an intellectual and social springboard to accelerate the maturation of the discipline. LASI’14 will be held in Cambridge, MA, USA from June 30, 2014 to July 2, 2014. While the call for in-person participation has closed, there is still time to get involved in a LASI’14 Local or Global Online event. As with the First Learning Analytics Summer Institute in 2013, a global network of LASI Locals will run their own gatherings. Gatherings are already being planned in the UK (Milton Keynes), The Netherlands (Amsterdam), Spain (Madrid), Egypt (Cairo), USA (Georgia) and Hong Kong. So get inspired, and self-organise! This year, we are planning ways in which the activities of LASI Locals will be more visible to Cambridge, MA, USA and to each other.

  • We are pleased to announce the publication of the inaugural issue of the Journal of Learning Analytics. JLA is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal, disseminating the highest quality research in the field of learning analytics and the official publication of the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR). The inaugural issue features an invited piece by SoLAR president George Siemens, as well as four research papers looking at the identification of at-risk students, correlation of practice and repetition with learning, the use of psychometric data in modelling academic achievement, and the use of affect and engagement measures to predict learning outcomes. In addition two Hot Spot papers describe the contributions that contemporary privacy theory can make to learning analytics, and the experience of a resource-constrained approach to implementing analytics in higher education.

Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR)