Participatory and Co-Design of Learning Analytics: An Initial Review of the Literature

Participatory Design (PD), and Co-design (Co-D), can be effective ways to improve technological innovation and to incorporate users’ needs in the development of learning analytics (LA). However, these methods can be difficult to implement and there has yet to be a synopsis of how its and techniques have been applied to the specific needs of LA. This study reviewed 90 papers that described 52 cases of PD of LA between 2010 and 2020 to address the research question “How is participatory design (PD) being used within LA?”. It focuses on examining which groups of participants are normally included in PD for LA, in what phases of the design process it is used, and what specific tools and techniques have LA designers adapted or developed to co-create with design partners. Findings show that there is a growing number of researchers using these methods in recent years, particularly in higher education and with instructor stakeholders. However, it was also found that often the literature would describe the PD activities only superficially, and that some aspects of PD, such as recruitment, were seldom considered overtly in the descriptions of these processes.