Learning Analytics per lo sviluppo professionale : Un approccio metodologico allo studio delle comunità di pratica

Abstract

The book investigates the potential of using Learning Analytics techniques in a large digital community of teachers, not only defining the outcome of such experimentation but also concretizing a shared interpretation of the knowledge that emerged from automated extraction. Aimed at both researchers and teachers, the first section defines the preliminary and theoretical aspects of the emerging discipline of Learning Analytics, as well as the ways in which collaborative digital environments can encourage the development of teachers' professionalism, looking especially into the most recent empirical perspectives on the intersection of both fields of study. The volume's second section focuses on the methodological framework and the findings of a research undertaken in the context of the Italian eTwinning community, the digital learning network for teachers in Europe. The findings of the statistical and clustering analysis of the online community of practise membership patterns encouraged a data-mediated dialogue with expert users in order to provide insights relevant to its monitoring and development perspectives, using a participatory research approach. The novel technique described here may identify intervention lines in teacher education courses and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in this new research area.