DesignLAK23

For the past decade there has been a broad recognition in the learning analytics community of the importance of the connection between learning design (LD) and learning analytics (LA). In response, there have been multiple attempts to conceptualise and articulate this connection in the form of frameworks and models to facilitate the design of systems that can realise the potential of LA to improve teaching and learning in authentic educational settings. These frameworks have represented the connection of LA and LD from different perspectives with some that are broad in their view of the elements and stakeholders involved (e.g., Bakharia et al., 2016), while others have examined the LD/LA elements in more detail providing taxonomies and layers to link design and analytics (e.g., Law & Liang, 2010; Hernández‐Leo et al., 2019). There has also been efforts to model the approaches needed to operationalise these frameworks so that practitioners and teachers can work through from design to analytics in practical ways (e.g., the development of a layered storytelling approach for communicating the interpretation of LA findings to teachers and learners in pedagogically relevant, non-technical language (Martinez-Maldonado et al., 2020)).

However, there is a need for broader conversations related to the need for articulation and greater consensus around the frameworks and the vocabulary used by researchers and practitioners in the field when bringing together LD and LA. Importantly, there is a need for an integrated framework for contextualising the contributions of emerging research and development outcomes to accelerate the appropriation of new advances by the LA and LD communities for the construction of design-aware learning analytics systems.

Over the past seven years the DesignLAK workshops have focused on a range of perspectives on the relationship between learning design and learning analytics. This has included workshops on particular aspects of learning design such as feedback processes (Authors, 2016) and elements related to assessment design (Authors, 2017; Authors, 2019). Other workshops have profiled tools that have been designed to provide a link between learning designs and analytics (Authors, 2018; Authors, 2022), or prototyping tools which enable the visualisation of learning analytics with reference to design patterns (Authors, 2021). The lively and constructive discussions held in these workshops often came back to a realisation that there are still significant conceptual and technological gaps to be addressed to provide an operationalisable foundation for the construction of systems that can provide pedagogically meaningful, LA-grounded feedback for teachers and learners in common, authentic learning scenarios. Addressing this need is an intent of the DesignLAK23 workshop design so that a contribution can be made to benefit all stakeholders in the way that learning analytics can be used in educational environments.