Revealing Opportunities for 21st Century Learning: An Approach to Interpreting User Trace Log Data

Abstract

Online environments can cultivate what have been referred to as 21st century skil ls and capabilities, as youth contribute, pursue, share, and interact around work and ideas. Such environments also hold great potential for addressing digital divi des related to the devel opment of such skil ls by connecting youth in areas with fewer resources and opportunities to s oc i a l a nd material supports for learning. However, even with increasing attention to the importance of 21st century skil ls, there is sti l l relatively l ittle known about how to measure these sorts of competencies effectively. In this paper, we offer an exploratory approach for interpreting student user trace log data to reveal opportunities for creative production, self-directed learning, and social learning online. Our approach engages social learning analytics to code actions according to relationships between users and engages in self-report and ethnographic methods to supplement initial results. We share our methods; provide rich descripti on of the unique learning environment; present results of logged opportunities for creative production, self directed learning, and social learning across the sixth grade cohort; and explore these results through the lens of individual learners, including cohort self-reports of identity, interest, and perceptions, and qualitative case studies of two students.