When you, as a trainer or (training) organisation, have launched an online learning programme, you probably want to know to what extent the learning activities contribute positively to the learning process. After all, it’s about the outcomes. Because the possibilities in the field of online learning are becoming more and more advanced, more and more information about learning processes can be stored. With learning analytics you can gain valuable insights from that information. By building codes into the learning environment or learning platform, you can analyse the learning behaviour of the individual participant or of a group of participants.
Learning analytics may sound complicated but it is not. Learning analytics provides answers to simple questions such as: ‘What is the learner doing in this learning environment?‘, ‘How often does he log in?‘, ‘Which pages and videos does she click on?‘. Each action that the participant performs in the learning environment, such as a mouse click or the time spent on a page, can be stored in a database.
Not all information is actually relevant. Which information is interesting depends on the chosen didactic concept. For example, in a didactic concept that focuses on collaboration, it may be interesting to know how often participants respond to each other. In a didactic concept that focuses on theoretical knowledge transfer, you might want to know how much time participants spend reading an article.
Therefore, when designing a learning path, think at the beginning about what information you need to gain sufficient insight into the learning behaviour of the participants.
