Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data about learners, learning experiences, and learning programs for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and its impact on performance.

1. Learning Analytics: An Overview

• Learning Analytics (LA) aims—above all—to improve student success in all learning contexts.
• It is also asserted to be one of the most sought-after technologies for online programmes.

2. A Code Of Practice For Learning Analytics

A Learning Analytics code of practice is a critically important good-practice policy-framework document that aims to improve transparency and build trust by addressing relevant legal (e.g. GDPR or see example of Moodle GDPR terms of use) and ethical issues. Moreover, Welsh & Mckinny, 2015 maintain that Learning Analytics ‘could represent a risk to universities to the same extent that it represents an opportunity’ considering legislative restrictions, mounting concerns regarding online privacy and the affordances of the data being collected.