Learning analytics as a tool for closing the assessment loop in higher education

This paper examines learning and academic analytics and its relevance to distance education in undergraduate and graduate programs as it impacts students and teaching faculty, and also academic institutions. The focus is to explore the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data as predictors of student success and drivers of departmental process and program curriculum. Learning and academic analytics in higher education is used to predict student success by examining how and what students learn and how success is supported by academic programs and institutions. The paper examines what is being done to support students, whether or not it is effective, and if not why, and what educators can do. The paper also examines how these data can be used to create new metrics and inform a continuous cycle of improvement. It presents examples of working models from a sample of institutions of higher education: The Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Wollongong, the University of Michigan, Purdue University, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Finally, the paper identifies considerations and recommendations for using analytics and offer suggestions for future research.