Learning Analytics as a Breakthrough in Educational Improvement

Abstract

Learning analytics has become a reference area in the field of Learning Technologies as the mixture of different technical and methodological approaches in the capture, treatment and representation of educational data for later use in decision-making pro-cesses. With approximately ten years of development, it can be considered that learn-ing analytics have abandoned their stage of dispersion and are heading towards a state of maturity that will position them as a fundamental piece in educational practice mediated by technology. However, it cannot be ignored that the power and good-ness of these analytics must be channelled to improve learning itself and, therefore, the learning-teaching process, always acting from an ethical sense and preserving the privacy of the people who participate because it is straightforward to invade personal spaces in favour of the objectives sought. This chapter presents, from a conceptual perspective, the reference models that support the creation of educational strategies based on learning analytics that integrate the most current trends in the field, defined from a critical perspective that balances the undoubted benefits with the potential risks