Barriers, enablers, and motivations for staff adoption of learning analytics: Insights for professional learning opportunities from an Australian university

Abstract

Understanding the capabilities and motivations of academics towards adopting and using Learning Analytics (LA) to support their development of technology-enhanced learning is an important first step in designing an effective and flexible adoption plan. Situated in a regional university, this paper reports on the initial data-gathering stage of an on-going study aimed at designing and trialing an adoption plan to support individual staff to engage deeply with LA to inform and enhance their teaching practice and their students’ experiences. This paper analyses a staff survey (N=74) and transcripts from 28 semi-structured interviews conducted over 22 months with eight academics. Survey respondents reported low levels of knowledge about, and use of, LA, as well as a lack of confidence in accessing, interpreting, and acting on, data. Inductive and deductive thematic analyses of interview transcripts support these findings. Analysis further identified three main themes of indicators of successful LA adoption: effective learning design and enhanced teaching practice; improved student experience; and academic recognition. Based on these results, this paper proposes elements that can be included in a suite of professional learning opportunities that will enable academic developers and institutions to support individual staff to successfully adopt of LA.