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Learning analytics offers an alternative to these methods of gathering feedback and reports from learners. These approaches instead make use of the data left by learners and teachers as they act: their ‘trace data’. These can tell us when learners join courses, when and how they engage with online activities, view pages, borrow resources from the library, set or complete activities or assessments, and so on. Any interaction with a web-based system can be tracked, and this data could be used to better understand what learners and teachers do. The widespread use of virtual learning environments (VLEs) – also known as learning management systems (LMSs) – has meant that educational institutions now deal with increasingly large sets of data. Each day their systems gather more personal data, systems information and academic records. Learning analytics is a field of innovative research, but it is increasingly something that many educators and institutions make use of through new tools, dashboards and reports, using online data to investigate user activity. It helps to answer questions such as: How many people visit the website / online learning materials? When do they visit / interact? Which links are popular? How many people complete the activities? Answering the questions posed above could involve analysing large data sets from VLEs and other technologies used for learning. Learning analytics can go one step further by providing actionable insights – they take trace data from educational settings and suggest, prompt or initiate actions to improve learning and teaching. You may have heard the term ‘big data’ used in discussions of technology. It is used in a lot of different ways, but essentially means that the dataset is very large and also very complex. Because of this, it may not be possible to use a simple, traditional approach to data processing and analysis. Learning analytics of the behaviours of large numbers of students can easily fall into the category of big data. But equally, you might look at the behaviour of one class of students over a course and find that useful insights can be gained without advanced techniques and tools. For example, in an online forum discussion associated with a particular online module or course, a VLE could capture a range of forum data, including: who accessed the forum when they did this how long they stayed what operating system they were using how many words they added. Any of these data could be used to create analytics. However, only some of these analytics would be useful to teachers. It is not possible to identify which analytics will be most useful without knowing something about how the forum is being used. The presence of a learning design should identify the purpose of the forum in relation to learning outcomes. This makes it easier to decide which analytics to use.

In today’s workplace, employers often look at potential employees and evaluate their interactive skills. These are skills that allow you to interact well with others in the workplace, and help you be a productive member of a team. Group work or collaborative learning is a great way to help students develop these in demand skills. Humans usually gravitate to working in groups. It is part of our nature. We often associate with groups because of the social aspects; however, in a higher education environment, the purpose of the group is to identify and execute learning activities. It is important when attempting to design group work courses and activities to make sure you know what you want the group structure to look like. Most groups are successful when they have a limited number of members. Limiting members to between 3 and 6 members is ideal. Too many members produce group situations where some students are not very active in the group, and less members can cause the students to feel overwhelmed with the workload of the groups. Forming Groups Don’t forget that groups, even small groups, are quite complex. A group has to contend with many aspects of cooperation such as work interaction, social organization, shared aims, and producing a collective product or view. Because small groups deal with such levels of complexity, it is a good idea to help your students adapt to the group work environment. First be sure when creating groups that you as the instructor pick the groups or help the students form groups. Without any stipulations, students will form groups of comfort. They will gravitate to familiars first, and don’t necessarily think about what makes a group successful. As the instructor/facilitator you need to help students understand this importance. Help students form groups that have a diversity of skill sets and perspectives. Having a group that has a single skill set or perspective can be detrimental to the quality of work they produce. Group communication and etiquette Be sure to inform students about their commitment to the group and the importance of their role in the group. Many students have an aversion to group work. This often comes from a preconceived notion of group work or a bad experience with group work. Their fears often range from being forced into an uncomfortable social situation, to fearing that the group work load will fall on their individual shoulders. Try helping students in the groups determine their role within the group. Be sure they understand the importance of the role. Without their contributions, the group project will fail or be incomplete. This importance also helps students comprehend the trust that is being built within the group. Each student plays an integral part in completing a group work and each member trusts the other member to being committed to finishing their parts. Make sure your students are aware and have been informed about this trust element. Set the ground rules. Let students know that opportunistic behaviour is not tolerated in the group work. What this means, is that each student pulls his or her own weight. Equal participation needs to be established. Be sure to get groups to establish a communication strategy amongst themselves. Often time group work becomes put off because of a lack in the communication plan. Keeping groups motivated and on task Another key to successful group work is establishing the objectives of the group. Without key direction, students will not know what outcome to work towards. A key job of the instructor or facilitator is to help students understand their objectives and to help guide them over or around any hurdles that could hinder the group from completing the work. Get students involved in understanding the objectives of the assignment by having them plan activities around the objectives. Have them ask questions and design procedures that will help them map their way to a completed objective. By being part of the planning process, students can feel more involved in the project or task, and can draw connections between learning elements

After reading this guide, you will better understand collaborative learning. You will get actionable tips on how to improve and implement collaborative learning within your organisation. Discover: The definition of collaborative learning Collaborative learning vs. cooperative learning: What is the difference? The benefits of collaborative learning Examples of collaborative learning activities Collaborative learning theories Vygotsky’s theory of social development Piaget’s theory of cognitive development Piaget versus Vygotsky: What is the difference? Kegan’s Cognitive Developmental Theory Collaborative learning research and articles The definition of collaborative learning Collaborative learning is the educational approach of using groups to enhance learning through working together. Groups of two or more learners work together to solve problems, complete tasks, or learn new concepts. This approach actively engages learners to process and synthesize information and concepts, rather than using rote memorization of facts and figures. Learners work with each other on projects, where they must collaborate as a group to understand the concepts being presented to them. Through defending their positions, reframing ideas, listening to other viewpoints and articulating their points, learners will gain a more complete understanding as a group than they could as individuals. Collaborative vs. cooperative learning: What is the difference? There is some confusion about what the difference is between these two types of learning. In fact, cooperative learning is a type of collaborative learning, which is why at first glance, the two might seem similar. The difference between cooperative learning and collaborative learning is that, in cooperative learning, participants are responsible for a specific section of their own learning and success, and also that of the group as a whole. They must use their knowledge and resources to make sure that all team members understand the concepts that they are learning. The roles and structure of cooperative learning are predefined, and are often likened to the cast and crew of a theatre production: the success of the show depends on all of the interconnected roles supporting each other, but there is a director overseeing the project closely. To think about collaborative learning in terms of roles within an organisation, in software development, a group of junior developers has a task to learn a new framework, then develop part of a program while using it. Each developer has their own part of the code to develop, but their work will only be successful if everybody learns and performs their part properly. Even though each person has a separate role in the work, the entire group has a stake in the success of others. In collaborative learning, individual participants must also take responsibility for their team learning and succeeding, but their roles, resources, and organisation is left up to them. There is no director to administer the rules of engagement, so the group itself must self-direct. The benefits of collaborative learning Why use collaborative learning? Because every organisation can benefit from having an energized and informed workforce. There are many benefits of collaborative learning, both for the organisation as a whole and the learners as individuals. The organisational benefits of collaborative learning 1. Develops self-management and leadership skills When individuals are tasked with working together to achieve a common goal, they are being given the opportunity to develop high-level skills. While having to organize, assign, and teach, they are learning how to manage both themselves and others while leading in a productive fashion. 2. Increases employee skills and knowledge When employees participate in collaborative learning, they are developing a wide range of skills and knowledge. Not only will they strengthen their existing skills by having to teach others, they in turn will learn new skills from other employees. This reduces the need for formal training while encouraging employee

Are you moving your traditional class online and need to do so quickly? You might be feeling a little overwhelmed and not sure where to begin. Take solace in the fact that many have done this before you and there is a plethora of information available to assist you. If you start by answering these few questions, it will put you on a pathway to success as you design and implement your online course. Don’t forget that you should always start by talking to your institution, or search their website, for information about any specific requirements they have for teaching online courses. How will you teach? You’ve got to start with this fundamental question. Will your class be an online course that will still meet via video/chat at a certain time (synchronous), or will it be a work-at-your-own-pace type course (asynchronous)? Keep in mind that students’ lives may also be disrupted by changes due to COVID-19 (kids now home from school, etc.), so you may want to consider an asynchronous course. If you will be meeting synchronously by chat/video, make sure you have an account with, or access to, software that will facilitate this. Your institution may already have agreements with online web conferencing software that will enable your meetings. Or, there are some companies that provide free licenses online (If doing this, be sure to check the fine print! Some free offers limit the length of the conference and/or the number of attendees.) If your students will be working at their own pace, but you will be recording videos for them to watch, make sure you have video recording software and reliable space on a school server to host the videos. Additionally, think about the length of your videos. No one really wants to sit and watch a 90-minute lecture on video. Consider breaking them into bite size chunks that are topically based and less than 15 minutes in length. How will students engage? It’s easy to tell if students are engaged while you’re in a classroom. You’re interacting with them face-to-face, engaging them in meaningful discussions, and posing questions on the fly. How do you get this same level of engagement in an online course? Whether or not your course is synchronous, how can you generate an interactive atmosphere in your virtual classroom? Consider using discussion forums, self-directed learning, and small group work to assist you with increasing engagement. Self-directed learning can take many forms, all of which encourage the learner to formulate investigative questions around your learning outcomes and test their hypotheses. You could offer a variety of bite sized assignments and videos around various outcomes and allow the students to pick and choose which assignments work best for their learning modalities. Another option might be to have them develop a project incorporating several learning outcomes, or even come up with their own critical thinking questions around your course content and then providing answers. Discussion forums are highly interactive and truly facilitate participation. You could start a discussion and ask students to post thoughtful, meaningful insights in response (and if you make it for a grade, they’ll definitely interact!) Your topic question should be open ended, meaning it can’t be answered with a simple yes or no, nor does it have a single “right” answer. You should encourage students to post questions, comments, and insight, to which you can provide feedback, and advocate for other students to provide input as well. One piece of advice here, set out guidelines for posting in the forum, such as the number of responses required as well as behavior expectations. Make sure they are clearly communicated ahead of time. Small group work provides a more collaborative type environment that students typically enjoy. They get to work together to solve problems, share ideas, and discuss content. A truly interactive way to engage the class (and take a bit of the workload off of you), would be to give each group a different topic and have them create a short video and a few assessments around that topi