AngeLA: Putting the teacher in control of student privacy in the online classroom

Abstract

Learning analytics (LA) is often considered as a means to improve learning and learning environments by measuring student behaviour, analysing the tracked data and acting upon the results. The use of LA tools implies recording and processing of student activities conducted on software platforms. This paper proposes a flexible, contextual and intuitive way to provide the teacher with full control over student activity tracking in online learning environments. We call this approach AngeLA, inspired by an angel guarding over LA privacy. AngeLA mimics in a virtual space the privacy control mechanism that works well in a physical room: if a person is present in a room, she is able to observe all activities happening in the room. AngeLA serves two main purposes: (1) it increases the awareness of teachers about the activity tracking and (2) provides an intuitive way to manage the activity tracking permissions. This approach can be applied to various learning environments and social media platforms. We have implemented AngeLA in Graasp, a social platform that fosters collaborative activities.