Places to intervene in complex learning systems

Responding to recent questioning of Learning Analytics (LA) as a field that is achieving its aim of understanding and optimising learning and the environments in which it occurs, this paper argues that there is a need to genuinely embrace the complexity of learning when considering the impact of LA. Rather than focusing upon 'optimisation', we propose that LA should seek to understand and improve the complex socio-technical system in which it operates. We adopt a framework from systems theory to propose 12 different intervention points for learning systems, and apply it to two case studies. We conclude with an invitation to the community to critique and extend this proposed framework.