Best researches in learning analytics gathered at the LAK23 conference in Texas

17. 03. 2023. / Project

The world's largest conference on learning analytics conference "LAK23 - Learning Analytics and Knowledge" is currently being held at the University of Texas (Arlington) from March 13 to 17, 2023, with more than 500 participants from around of the world. Full Prof. Blaženka Divjak, Ph.D. from the Faculty of Organization and Informatics is one of the participants and her role is extremely visible and rich, considering that as a recognized top expert in the use and research of learning analytics, she is involved in numerous activities that follow such world conferences.

As an introduction to the conference, on Monday, March 13, 2023, a full-day workshop "Global Research Alliance for AI in Learning and Education (GRAILE)" was held, where prof. Divjak spoke about the topic of artificial intelligence in education from a European perspective, which was received with great interest, since there is much more legislation compared to America or Australia, and there is more concern about risks, more research is done and numerous positive aspects of application are encouraged.

Furthermore, prof. Divjak participated in the workshop "The 3rd Workshop on Learning Analytics and Assessment", which she conducted together with renowned scientists - Dragan Gašević and Mladen Raković from Monash University, Naif Aljohani from King Abudlaziz University, José A. Ruipérez Valiente from the University of Murcia and Sandra Milligan from the University of Melbourne.

Prof. Divjak also presented a scientific paper on the application of learning analytics in increasing the validity of evaluation and assessment, which was published in the British Journal of Educational Technology at the end of 2022 entitled "Assessment validity and learning analytics as prerequisites for ensuring student-centered learning design".

On Tuesday, March 14, 2023, prof. Divjak held a half-day workshop entitled "Workshop on Learning Design Analytics: Balanced Planning with an Innovative, Free-to-Use Software Tool", where the concept and tool for learning design - Balanced Design Planning – BDP was presented. The tool was developed by a research group within the Learning Analytics Laboratory at FOI, under the leadership of prof. Divjak. It is available for free at learning-design.eu and in just a few months has reached an impressive 900 users from 30 countries around the world. The tool was very well received at the conference in Texas as well. In addition, it is important to point out that the tool was recognized and supported by the European Union, and the BDP team was enabled to continue its work within Erasmus+ project iLed - Innovating Learning Design in Higher Education (https://iled-project.eu/).

As a panelist, prof. Divjak also participated in a workshop for doctoral students, where career development after a doctorate was discussed in the rapidly growing, interdisciplinary field of learning analytics, where mathematics, educational sciences and informatics are intertwined.

"The application is not only in colleges and schools, but also in the rapidly growing industry that deals with educational software, but also with artificial intelligence in general. About 50 young colleagues from all over the world were present, presenting their research and listened to the advice of us seniors,' said prof. Divjak.

On Friday, March 17, 2023, prof. Divjak will also presented the scientific paper "Learning analytics dashboards: What do students actually ask for?", which includes the results of research conducted among Croatian students in the field of computer science, related to the experiences of using learning analytics which represents the basis for further research work.

It is important to point out that in January 2023, Professor Divjak's prominent and active work in the field of learning analytics was once again internationally recognized and confirmed by her election as vice president of the scientific network SOLAR - Society for Learning Analytics Research. It is a worldwide interdisciplinary network that brings together leading international researchers in the field of learning analytics and represents the standards and directions of research in the field. Congratulations!

More info:

Divjak, B., Grabar, D., Svetec, B. & Vondra, P. (2022) Balanced Learning Design Planning: Concept and Tool. Journal of information and organizational sciences, 46 (2), 361-375 doi:10.31341/jios.46.2.6.
Rienties, B., Balaban, I., Divjak, B., Grabar, D., Svetec, B., Vondra, P. (2023). Applying and translating learning design and analytics approaches across borders. In: Viberg, Olga and Grönlund, Åke eds. Practicable Learning Analytics. Advances in Analytics for Learning and Teaching. Cham: Springer, (In Press).
Divjak, B., Svetec, B., Horvat, D. & Kadoić, N. (2023) Assessment validity and learning analytics as prerequisites for ensuring student-centred learning design. British journal of educational technology, 54 (1), 313-334 doi:10.1111/bjet.13290.

More info about conference: https://www.solaresearch.org/events/lak/lak23/