Strategic Plan 2020 – April 2021 - Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR)

Goals - April 2021

Increase the diversity and inclusivity of the SoLAR Community
Expand impact and increase understanding of learning analytics
Communicate the value of membership to all members
Increase overall engagement within the SoLAR Community

Enablers

In addition to the SoLAR Executive, SoLAR Working Groups assist in furthering the vision and mission and include:

Communications: to oversee the internal and external communications of the Society
Education: to promote the development of high-quality Learning Analytics educational resources
Events: to encourage and support the community in hosting learning analytics related events to further the mission of the Society
Inclusion: to develop and implement initiatives aimed to promote, elevate and foster an open, diverse, and inclusive environment
Journal: to create and disseminate new tools, techniques, study transformations, and provide ongoing evaluation and critique of conceptual, technical and practice outcomes.
Membership: to work on initiatives to expand membership benefits and increase overall membership for the Society.
Special Interest Groups: to promote and support the establishment of SIGs within the Society

GOAL 1: Increase the diversity and inclusivity of the SoLAR community

AIM: SoLAR should be a diverse and inclusive society. This is critical to (i) our aspiration to be a truly international society, (ii) maintaining the intellectual health of the field, and (iii) preventing group-think. We need to continue to diversify in aspects such as geography, gender, ethnicity, discipline, methodology etc.

Priorities	Actions	Measures - Current	Targets	Enablers
1.1 Promote regional/local events	Promote LA in underrepresented regions Promote local LASI events and SIGs Collaborate with an industry event	2 events in 2018, 2 events in 2017 2 events in 2016, 5 events in 2015 4 events in 2014 Note: No statistics received from 2019 events	Increase 50% number of events held in 2018 and establish a baseline of the participants	Events
1.2 Cooperate with other societies	Promote transition pathways from other research fields	Alliance	Establish with another organization	Executive
1.3 Host online events	Assist local areas in hosting or guesting SoLAR webinar/podcast series	7 webinars (participants - min. 127, max. 726; 6 podcast episodes (plays - min. 96, max. 469;	Increase participation in online events by 10%	Communications Events
1.4 Promote active development of graduate students and early-career researchers	SoLAR Scholarships for Doctoral Consortium students LAK conference scholarships for ECR Erik Duval Scholarships for LASI	DC - 11 Scholarships - 4M, 7F; 4 North America, 4 Europe, 2 Australia, 1 India Conference 2:1M, 1F; 1 South America, 1 Africa Erik Duval - none in 2020 due to COVID-19	Maintain financial support	LAK LASI Inclusion
1.5 Create a pool of expert speakers in learning analytics from a wide and diverse base	Stage 1 - Executive and Working Group team members to commence database Stage 2 - Request input from community members	Baseline	Have 5 experts by Dec 2020 10 experts by Mar 2021	Communication
1.6 Promote inclusive learning analytics research and practice	Maintain the list of educational resources that raise awareness and promote work that contributes to inclusive learning analytics Invite contributions specifically targeting inclusive LA research & practice from the community to existing communication channels including JLA and LAK21. Deploy actions across other elements in the Society to actively promote education measures against discrimination	The current web page that establishes SoLAR’s commitment to tackling discrimination Current membership and diversity of Inclusion working group	Establish page and announce to members Host an inclusion session at LAK21	Communication Inclusion Education

GOAL 2: Expand impact and increase understanding of learning analytics

AIM: While knowledge of learning analytics is growing, we need to keep alive the discussion about its challenges, opportunities and relevance to practice ensuring this understanding is accessible to target audiences.

Priorities	Actions	Measures - Current	Targets	Enablers
2.1 Maintain the Journal of Learning Analytics as a scientific research publication	Evaluate publication processes for improvement Mentor new authors	2020: 39 Authors; 72% first time, 28% repeat Authors Demographics: 49% USA, 36% Europe, 5% Australia, 5% Canada, 5% China Downloads 3,828 on 7(1); Per article: 638. For past 12 months Avg article DPM: 5468	Increase readership by 10 %	Journal Inclusion
2.2 Promote and sustain collaboration with EdTech industry	Create a relationship with new industry partners Sustain relationship with existing industry partners/sponsors Grow Practitioner Track at LAK	Avg Prac Submissions 21 for the past 2 years 3 major sponsors/ partnerships	2 new partnerships Increase Prac submission by 20%	Executive
2.3 Make leading research more accessible	Maintain LAK conference scholarship Maintain LASI scholarships Maintain webinar/podcast series Launch and maintain a blog Publish White Papers	LAK 526 participants LASI 136 participants (2019)	1 white paper 12 blog stories 6 webinars 6 podcasts	Journal Events Inclusion Education Communication
2.4 Develop mentorship and training opportunities for writing for publication	Run workshop(s) at LAK, LASI or online Create mentor database and match to mentees	Number and format of workshops	1 event by Dec 2020 2 events by March 2021	Education Communication
2.5 Create and sustain bridges/linkages with sister research communities	Collaborate on government/industry white paper Discuss focus for future White Papers	Number of formal agreements Number of white papers in progress	1 white paper published by Dec 2020	Education Executive

GOAL 3: Communicate the value of membership to all members

AIM: SoLAR is a membership-based society. To grow, we must provide inherent value to our SoLAR members to continue the growth of the community. SoLAR membership provides not only funding opportunities but collaborative opportunities across institutions and continents.

Priorities	Actions	Measures - Current	Targets	Enablers
3.1 Articulate values linked to SoLAR membership	Update membership benefits on the website Increase member engagement with SoLAR	16% renew each year 45% North America 27% Europe/UK 16% Australia/NZ 8% Asia 2% South America 1% Africa/Middle East	Retain core members from year to year Understand the needs of the core members Increase the percentage of newsletter subscriptions, with a particular focus on regions outside of North America	Membership Executive
3.2 Increase mentorship and networking activities for members	Provide small-scale training/mentorship programs for members Launch early and mid-career researcher development workshops Launch Senior Leadership meet-ups and/or workshops Provide “spotlight space” on the website to expand research from members	Number and type of current member activities and workshops Number of participants	At least 1 event for each target group 1 Event by Dec 20 2 Event by March 21 5 bios of members volunteering for working groups featured in Solar external communication	Membership Education Communication
3.3 Certain content to remain open	Open access to white papers, research, recordings on the website without the firewall	2 White papers	Promote resources regularly	Communication
3.4 Broaden working group memberships	Distribute call for participation Recognize the commitment and efforts of working group members	Working group Membership numbers	Each working group recruits at least one non-Exec to serve with them Each WG identifies at least one activity where non-Exec can engage Highlighting members in the newsletter for joining the WG voluntarily	Executive Working Group Leads

Goal 4: Increase overall engagement within the SoLAR community

AIM: We should not be closed to ourselves. How we can engage with others to better promote learning analytics?

Priorities	Actions	Measures - Current	Targets	Enablers
4.1 Promote participation of members in working groups	Provide clear information on how to get involved Identify clear benefits for engagement with Working Groups Run community surveys to see who would be willing to participate and then engage with them.	Diversity of Participants’ demographic distributions	Increase by 10%	Communication Membership
4.2 Organize joint events or in-cooperation events with other societies	Expand the engagement with IAALDE Expand the engagement with MoU with ASCILITE Explore other events to propose in-cooperation	Level of engagement compared to previous years	An increase on engagement	Executive
4.3 Increase two-way communication with SIGS and sub-groups	Ask sub-groups to report back on their activities to SoLAR instead of existing on their own	No formal feedback mechanism in place	SIGs report included in the AGM report	SIGs Executive
4.4 Continue current initiatives aimed at the community	Continue newsletter, podcast, webinar Continue website (job listings, resources, etc) Invite member input	Number and diversity of the participants	Increasing participation and diversity	Communication

Strategic Plan 2020 – April 2021