Learning Analytics & Incubators in Higher Education
ANALYTICS TECHNOLOGIES
Learning Analytics in Higher Education
The Horizon report (Alexander et al., 2019) identifies analytics technologies such as learning analytics, as a key component in higher education initiatives that drive student success, and an essential element of academic institutions’ decision-making and strategic planning. Alexander et al. states that learning analytics done right can bring about an institutional transformation that enriches educational experiences and success for both, students and faculty.
Ifenthaler (2015) as cited in Ifenthaler and Yau (2020), defines learning analytics as “the use, assessment, elicitation and analysis of static and dynamic information about learners and learning environments, for the near real-time modeling, prediction and optimization of learning processes, and learning environments, as well as for educational decision-making.”
Learning analytics in higher education offers many benefits, but also faces positive and negative ethical and social issues. Florea and Florea (2020) states big data technologies come with a price, as it relates to an individual’s personal privacy and the tools and methodologies used to protect it. The National Forum on Education Statistics (2010) also uncovered this ethical dilemma of data collection and handling methodologies. How to ensure bias and manipulation of meaning have not made its way into the data, or somehow its interpretation being influenced to steer in a specific direction?
The implementation of learning analytics in higher education environments and processes offer countless social benefits, such as the use of predictive analytics to predict study success (course completion), improving students’ learning and even motivating them to remain in school, resulting in a reduction of dropout rates.
Other useful predictions include student attrition risk, retention and performance, and an improvement of the overall learning process (Ifenthaler & Yau, 2020). Keeping students in school brings about several other benefits, such as those Nietzel (2019) describes from the results of the 2018 General Social Survey (GSS), a highly regarded measure utilized by social scientists in social, personal, and economic issues. From the GSS, it was found individuals with a college education tend to feel their income alone is sufficient to cover their family’s typical monthly expenses compared with those with a high school diploma or less. Within the same parameters, other benefits include satisfaction with their present financial status and with their work, an excellent or very good overall health, and even a higher rate in civic participation such as voting in presidential elections (Nietzel). Ma et al. (2020) states important societal benefits of a higher education drive lower levels of unemployment, and by association, of poverty, which results in less dependence in government programs leading to a decreased demand on public budgets.
ADVANCING CULTURES OF INNOVATION
Incubators in Higher Education
The Horizon report (Alexander et al., 2019) identifies incubators as a trend in higher education as institutions look for innovative ways to provide students with experiences that will better prepare them for the workforce. Incubators go beyond generating a culture that embraces innovation and experimentation by providing students with key knowledge and skills not typically found in a traditional academic education. The 2019 Horizon report (Alexander et al.) states that incubators offer faculty the opportunity to integrate dynamic experiences in their curricula, focusing on job market preparedness and business partnerships that foster industry collaboration. Gensler (2021) discusses the rise of incubators in academia as the means for universities to remain relevant and competitive, attracting students looking for an entrepreneurial educational experience.
Incubators are designed to foster strategic partnerships between industry and academia, connecting students with start-ups, investors, and fostering collaborations that are not possible in standard academic coursework (Gensler).
This trend is impacted by several forces, including social and economical. Gensler (2021) states one important social benefit of incubators is that they allow participation in cutting-edge research without the need of a significant investment. Incubators present a vision of what a city could be or aspires to be, for example, leading to the establishment of strategies that are conducive of growth and development (Gensler). Academic incubators also directly tackle the economic value of an academic education. Castro and Clyde (2018) state most people make assumptions about the benefits of higher education, that it results in gained knowledge and intellectual skills, but research suggests academic programs fall short in delivering practical knowledge and the necessary skills graduates require to appropriately perform in the workforce. Employers realize recent graduates require crucial on-the-job-training before they are able to contribute to the jobs they were hired to perform. Castro and Clyde state a college education offers a foundation, but incubators expose students to different cultures and diverse environments, whether they be social, economical, or even emotional as they get to collaborate and build relationships with economically diverse teams, allowing them to develop a social and cultural self-awareness, and gain not only necessary technical skills but effective knowledge and soft-skills Castro and Clyde refer to as “employability skills.”
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