A Literature Review of Experimental Studies in Learning Analytics

Abstract

The purpose of this literature review is threefold: (a) to conduct a critical review of the published scientific
literature on Learning Analytics (LA), (b) to identify current trends, gaps, and research questions in the
field, and (c) to summarize the existing empirical evidence of the LA adoption. From a sample of 390
articles, 118 were included in the review after searching online bibliographic databases. The selected
empirical evidence articles were examined for their research questions, stakeholders, and limitations
using qualitative content analysis. The results demonstrated that LA is an interdisciplinary field and that
developing efficient techniques is a new research challenge for the educational community. This study
discusses the results of defining and analyzing five conceptual dimensions: the object of analysis,
technology, objectives, stakeholders, and ethics. It provides guidelines from the literature for scholars,
faculty, course designers, researchers, and other educational stakeholders interested in developing
responsible, efficient, and pedagogical LA approaches.