Learning Analytics (LA) has been rapidly evolving as a field over the last decade, offering myriad ways of optimising learning environments for students undertaking higher education. Despite its enormous potential, the rate of LA’s adoption in higher education institutes has not witnessed as rapid a progression as initially expected. This integrative critical literature review investigates this stagnation by identifying and discussing the four primary challenges that have hindered the adoption and subsequent progress of LA; (1) Ethics & Privacy (student consent), (2) Design & Development (Lack of a student perspective), (3) Research (Lack of integration with learning sciences) and (4) Data Capture (Complexity due to the diversity of datasets). Moving beyond standard barrier identification, this paper introduces a novel tripartite analytical framework (Challenge-SolutionContradiction) to critically examine each of these themes. Sequentially, the challenges in question are elaborated on, along with proposed solutions for addressing them, followed by the contradictions to those solutions. Ultimately, this paper identifies crucial interdependencies between the four challenges and argues that current isolated mitigation strategies are insufficient. As opposed to attempting to eradicate challenges in isolation, this paper proposes a future course of action focused on a holistic, interconnected approach to implementation, essential for overcoming the complex, systemic friction hindering LA adoption in higher education. A new "Integrative Prism" model is proposed to guide policymakers in navigating these trade-offs.
Syed Mohammad Waheed (Fri,) studied this question.