Looking to the Future
Rebecca Ferguson
A decade ago, Europe’s Learning Analytics Community Exchange (LACE) looked at what the future might hold for learning analytics.
It consulted experts about a range of possible scenarios, asking which were feasible, which were desirable, and what it would take to make them happen. Would learning analytics be widely adopted or would they rarely be used? Would learners control their own data, or would they find themselves tracked by their learning environment? We’re now living in that future – so were the predictions right? What is the current state of learning analytics in Europe and how might we expect to see it develop? Join Rebecca Ferguson for this interactive keynote, where we’ll be looking at the possibilities, considering the challenges, and proposing priorities for the future.
Rebecca Ferguson is Professor of Learning Futures in the Institute of Educational Technology (IET) at The Open University in the UK, and a senior fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She was an executive member of the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) for four years, Program Chair for two of the LAK conferences, and is currently one of the Editors in Chief of the Journal of Learning Analytics. Her work has been influential in shaping the field, supporting implementation across Europe, and promoting a focus on social learning analytics and on ethics. She has been invited to lead events in this area on five continents, including several associated with her work as principal investigator on the European Learning Analytics Community Exchange (LACE) and on LAEP, a project that helped European policymakers to set out an agenda for high-quality and stimulating ways of learning and teaching through the use of learning analytics.
LA in light of the GDPR and the forthcoming AI Act
Malgorzata Cyndecka
Malgorzata Cyndecka is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Bergen, Norway. Se is also affiliated at the Centre for the Science of Learning & Technology (SLATE) at UiB. She works with EU/EEA law, in particular rules on State aid and data protection. As a data protection expert, she is a member of the Council of Europe’s expert group “Artificial Intelligence & Education”. In 2021/2022 Malgorzata contributed to a project “Activity data for assessment and adaptation” that participated in the first edition of the Norwegian Data Protection Authority’s “Sandbox for responsible AI”. Currently, she is involved in a project “EduTrust” that is led by SLATE and whose aim is to identify layers of trust associated with the use of AI in the educational sector, including legal implications of trust.