A Geographer Looks at EdTech - Part 4 - Learning Analytics

--- This post is the second in a ten part series examining top 2011 trends in education technology in the context of GIS and geography education. ---

The fourth theme Audrey Watters identified in her top ten list of ed tech for 2011 is learning analytics, that is the data about learning. She explains that in many situations learning analytics boils down to standardized tests as a measure of our failing schools. But it can also be a tool to evaluate teachers, guide student learning and sadly, a pressure to encourage cheating. Still, with the promise of these data, and the ease of capture when students use electronic devices and software, they can't be ignored.

Data capture is easier than ever. Even as I write this [in December] the American Geographic Society is running a survey of adult opinions on geography. It's built on a data platform (copyright 2006) even more ugly than the widely used Survey Monkey. The questions disappointed me so much that I chose not to share the request for others to complete the survey.

Last year at a geo edu event I got the "pitch" from a Pearson rep on its new geography text book/online package. He explained it would tell me, the instructor, how well my students did on the quizzes related to each chapter in vivid charts. I could see which multiple choice question the most students got wrong and the like. I could see which students did the assignments and which did not. The offering did not appeal to me at all.

Why? My classes (both in residence at local colleges and community college and online in a graduate program) are about geography/geographic thinking/geotechnology) AND communication. While these tools deliver rote learning evaluations, they don't help me see how the students think or express themselves. In a sense, my issue is, "I don't get to see their work!"

That said, I am most excited about using such data to find out what "works." That is, teaching one class a topic using one method and a second via another and seeing which mastered the material better. I believe using these data to hone in on techniques that work is their greatest promise. Want an example? Check out Emily Hanford's latest piece (NPR) on new methods in physics education. If you like it, I highly recommend listening to every podcast from American RadioWorks.

Google and Pearson's Free Learning Management System

Last week Google announced it had teamed up with Pearson (GIS people will know them as the company that implements the Esri certification tests) to offer a free learning management system (LMS) called OpenClass. It will launch through the Google Apps for Education program. That program already has 1000 university users. The consensus is that the freebie will not replace embedded LMSs but perhaps sit alongside them.

David Kim, CIO of Central Piedmont Community College, is thinking that way. He's considering running OpenClass alongside Blackboard and Moodle. Why? It looks easy-to-use for both students and instructors. His sense is the "facebook-like" interface will work both for those just out of high school as those with gray hair.

Another possible bonus of OpenClass: instructors at one institution can collaborate with others using the same system. (I hope that's true for Moodle and Blackboard, but I certainly am not aware of it.) Blackboard maintains that its offerings integrate more deeply into the enterprise, so OpenClass is not really on par.

The whole LMS issue will continue to go round and round. And, I expect to see what we are starting to see in GIS implementations: hybrid systems. At Penn State, my department (I am no longer on the faculty), geography, was not a big fan of the school's LMS, Angel (now owned by Blackboard). So (and I don't know how this was done...seemed like magic to me!) we launched our own Drupal server (an open source content management system). The students still use Angel for mail and grading and some submissions, but from the instructor's point of view, we had our "own" environment.

I for one love to see lots of choices out there. Further, the more I hear about the different LMSs, it seems they can all do the "basic" job. I know I want faculty and students to worry more about course content and engagement than the platform in use. The more invisible that platform can be, the better. And, considering how Google has become, almost without effort, the invisible platform on which many of us already "run" in our daily lives, I expect to see great things.

- Chronicle of Higher Ed Blog