Eric Westervelt writes:
On campuses today almost every educational interaction leaves digital traces. Assignments and feedback are given through online portals; debates and discussions happen via learning management systems as well as in classrooms, cafes and dorm rooms.
Those and other digital crumbs give technologists the opportunities to examine the processes, practices and goals of higher education in ways that were largely impossible a decade or so ago.
We’ve reported here and here on Stanford physics Noble Laureate Carl Wieman’s “active learning” revolution.
Another physicist-turned-education-innovator (is there something in the physics lab water?) named Timothy McKay sees great promise in “learning analytics” — using big data and research to improve teaching and learning.
McKay, a professor of physics, astronomy and education at the University of Michigan argues in a recent white paper, that higher ed needs to “break down the perceived divide between research and practice.”
There are privacy and ethical concerns, of course, which in turn has prompted fledgling codes of conduct to spring up.
The remainder of the piece on NPR is Westervelt’s interview of McKay on learning analytics. But if you hope to see any questions about privacy implications, you’ll be disappointed.
via Joe Cadillic