The EDEN conference 2018 has been a very active time for me, and a truly great experience. It was located in the beautiful Genova – a city which I had not been to so far, and which turned out surprisingly beautiful. We spent great evening networking with colleagues, thanks to Fabio Nascimbeni, knowing his way around.
I have been elected into the Executive Committee of EDEN during the General members Assembly on day one, and gave two paper presentations on Microcredentials. Together with Anthony Camilleri I organized a workshop for both our projects, OEPass and MicroHE – also on micro credentials, which we divided into two parts, one on changing landscape of higher education and a second one on future tech architectures for credentialing in higher education.
I had been asked to chair the jury for the EDEN Best research paper Award by Ulrich berth and coming with that, also held the laudation for the Award. Congratulations to Paul Prinsloo, Sharon Slade and Mohammad Kalil for their Best Research Paper Award at #eden18! I was asked about the laudatio text – so here it is…
„Stuck in the Middle? Making Sense of the Impact of Micro, Meso and Macro Institutional, Structural and Organisational Factors on Implementing Learning Analytics“
by
Paul Prinsloo, University of South Africa, South Africa,
Sharon Slade, The Open University, United Kingdom,
Mohammad Khalil, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
Laudatio:
„Mindful of this year’s workshop theme, Jury members were sensitive to the contribution of papers finding insights into the Micro, Meso and Macro level of the digital learning landscape. Among the many deserving papers that were submitted, one in particular was felt to have rigorously, articulately, and thematically captured the spirit of the conference theme in research. Given that, Jury members unanimously voted for Stuck in the Middle? Making Sense of the Impact of Micro, Meso and Macro Institutional, Structural and Organisational Factors on Implementing Learning Analytics.
The paper deals with a fresh view on learning analytics. Learning Analytics is often seen as the new opportunity for providing content in a more suitable way to learners for more personalized and individualized learning. The dream of educators seemed to have come true. However, the contribution takes a different angle at learning analytics and demystifies the field. It suggests that learning analytics as it is viewed today is not looking comprehensive enough into the matter, and needs to take more factors into account. It differentiates micro, meso and macro factors and thus suggests a framework for a more holistic view into the future of analyzing learning behavior. Excellent and courageous contribution!“