Learning analytics are starting to become standardized in higher education as institutions use the techniques of Big Data analytics to make decisions to help them reach their goals. The widespread use of student information brings forth ethical concerns primarily in relation to privacy. While the overarching ethical issues related to learning…

Background: Learning Analytics (LA) is an emerging field concerned with measuring, collecting, and analysing data about learners and their contexts to gain insights into learning processes. As the technology of Learning Analytics is evolving, many systems are being implemented. In this context, it is essential to understand stakeholders'…

Higher education data mining and analytics, like learning analytics, may improve learning experiences and outcomes. However, such practices are rife with student privacy concerns and other ethics issues. It is crucial that student privacy expectations and preferences are considered in the design of educational data analytics. This study forefronts…

The anticipation, inclusion, responsiveness, and reflexivity (AIRR) framework (Stilgoe et al., 2013) is a novel framework that has helped those in science and technology fields shift their focus from products to the processes used to create those products. However, the framework has not been known to be applied to the development and…

The progressive move of higher education institutions (HEIs) towards blended and online environments, accelerated by COVID-19, and their access to a greater variety of student data has heightened the need for ethical learning analytics (LA). This need is particularly salient in light of a lack of comprehensive, evidence-based guidelines on ethics…

To assist higher education institutions in meeting the challenge of limited student engagement in the implementation of Learning Analytics services, the Questionnaire for Student Expectations of Learning Analytics (SELAQ) was developed. This instrument contains 12 items, which are explained by a purported two-factor structure of "Ethical and…

Student engagement within the development of learning analytics services in Higher Education is an important challenge to address. Despite calls for greater inclusion of stakeholders, there still remains only a small number of investigations into students' beliefs and expectations towards learning analytics services. Therefore, this paper presents…

Libraries remain one of the last places on campus where the purging of usage data is encouraged and "tracking" is a dirty word. While some libraries have demonstrated the usefulness of analytics, opponents bring up issues of privacy and debate the feasibility of student-generated library data for planning and assessment. Using a study…

In this article, Susan Haarman discusses the ways in which datafication technologies such as Big Data and algorithms have the potential to either challenge or exacerbate what Miranda Fricker calls epistemic injustice. She briefly defines epistemic injustice using Fricker's subsets of testimonial and hermeneutical injustice before moving to the…

Increasingly learning analytics (LA) has begun utilising staff- and student-facing dashboards capturing visualisations to present data to support student success and improve learning and teaching. The use of LA is complex, multifaceted and raises many issues for consideration, including ethical and legal challenges, competing stakeholder views and…

Learning analytics involve the process of gathering data about students and using the information to intervene in their lives to improve learning and institutional outcomes. Many academic libraries now participate in learning analytics. However, such practices raise privacy and intellectual freedom issues due to sensitive data practices. But, few…

Digital data are transforming higher education (HE) to be more student-focused and metrics-centred. In the UK, capturing detailed data about students has become a government priority, with an emphasis on using student data to measure, compare and assess university performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine the governmental and commercial…