Location: Bosque (The Commons)

Description: Workshop activities will include exploration of some simple LMS-embedded LA tools and discussion of what they reveal, group reflection on and discussion of available institutional data, identification of pedagogical questions, problem or challenge in participants’ own educational context that might be illuminated using learning analytics, and some preliminary work with a framework to support planning for LA implementation.

Activities: Investigate some current learning analytics processes and tools, and consider the claims made about their utility and value and relation to learners and learning.

Takeaways: 

• Understanding of when Excel is (and is not) a good tool for learning analytics analysis.
• Understanding of the purpose of data cleaning and how to use Excel tools to clean data.
• Review common learning analytics statistical methods.
• Use Excel functions to perform those same analyses.
• Review common statistical tests such as t-Tests, Analysis of Variance, Correlation Tests, Chi-Squared Tests, and Linear Regression
• Use Excel to perform those same statistical tests.
• Understand how to design effective data visualizations.
• Build effective visualizations in Excel.

Intended Audience: Anyone interested in analyzing small to medium data sets using Excel, including teachers, professors, administrators, and graduate students. A basic understanding of how to navigate and enter information into Excel will be helpful but not necessary.

Preparation: Participants will need to bring a laptop with any version of Excel installed or have access to Excel in Office 365.

Workshop Leaders: Bonnie Boardman, University of Texas at Arlington