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Not so stuck in the middle

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Unisa’s Prof Paul Prinsloo and his co-authors Dr Sharon Slade from the Open University in the UK and Dr Mohammad Khalil from the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, received the best paper award at the European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN) conference, which was held from 17 to 20 June 2018 in Genoa, Italy.

Prof Ulf Ehlers (President: EFQUEL, Vice-President: Co-Operative State University Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, and member of the EDEN Executive), Prof Paul Prinsloo (lead author, Unisa), Dr Sharon Slade (author, Open University, UK), and Dr Airina Volungevičienė (President: EDEN, and Director: Innovative Studies Institute, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania)

The jury members voted unanimously for the paper Stuck in the middle? Making sense of the impact of micro, meso and macro institutional, structural and organisational factors on implementing learning analytics.

The jury members described it as an “excellent and courageous contribution!” and lauded it for its fresh view on learning analytics. Learning analytics is often seen as the new opportunity for providing content in a more suitable way to learners for more personalised and individualised learning. The contribution by Prinsloo and his co-authors takes a different angle at learning analytics and demystifies the field.

The authors were praised for suggesting a framework for a more holistic view into the future of analysing learning behaviour. They did this by differentiating between micro, meso and macro factors. In their appraisal, the jury members said the paper rigorously, articulately, and thematically captured the spirit of the conference theme in research.

*By Ilze Crous

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Publish date: 2018-07-25 00:00:00.0

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