This article presents an overview of the development and use of analytics in the context of education. Using Buckingham Shum's three levels of analytics, the authors present a critical analysis of current developments in the domain of learning analytics, and contrast the potential value of analytics research and development with real world educational implementation and practice. The article also focuses on the development of education content analytics and considers the legal and ethical implications of collecting and analysing educational data. Looking to the future, the authors also highlight new developments including exploration of data from massive open online courses (MOOCs).