Learning analytics as a "middle space"

Learning Analytics, an emerging field concerned with analyzing the vast data "given off" by learners in technology supported settings to inform educational theory and practice, has from its inception taken a multidisciplinary approach that integrates studies of learning with technological capabilities. In this introduction to the Proceedings of the Third International Learning Analytics & Knowledge Conference, we discuss how Learning Analytics must function in the "middle space" where learning and analytic concerns meet. Dialogue in this middle space involves diverse stakeholders from multiple disciplines with various conceptions of the agency and nature of learning. We hold that a singularly unified field is not possible nor even desirable if we are to leverage the potential of this diversity, but progress is possible if we support "productive multivocality" between the diverse voices involved, facilitated by appropriate use of boundary objects. We summarize the submitted papers and contents of these Proceedings to characterize the voices and topics involved in the multivocal discourse of Learning Analytics.