Questioning learning analytics? Cultivating critical engagement as student automated feedback literacy

Abstract

For learning analytics to empower students, they must be able to critically engage with the analytics. This is particularly essential in the case of student-facing LA (such as automated writing feedback tools) that require students to make sense of the automated feedback on learning constructs that the students must master, and to act as needed. This paper highlights the importance of critical engagement with a learning analytics tool and a pedagogic design for its implementation with students. It uses student interaction data to demonstrate that students possess different levels of skills to meaningfully engage with the automated feedback and discusses ways to enhance their critical engagement with learning analytics. The work will inform how learning analytics tools can embed critical interaction design to provide its users with increased agency.