This article explores potential uses, misuses, beneficiaries, and tensions of learning analytics in higher education. While those promoting and using learning analytics generally agree that ethical practice is imperative, and student privacy and rights are important, navigating the complex maze of ethical dilemmas can be challenging, particularly…

The Australian Government Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency's (TEQSA's) guidance notes are concise documents designed to provide high-level, principles-based guidance on interpretation and application of specific standards of the Higher Education Standards Framework (Threshold Standards) 2021. They also draw attention to other…

Assessing group work formatively in higher education poses a significant challenge. The complexity of evaluating individual contributions is compounded by the lack of efficient and effective methods for tracking, analysing and assessing individual engagement and contributions, which can impede timely feedback and the development of group work…

While research into PhD programs and doctoral students' experiences has increased in recent years, fieldwork is overlooked as a source of learning and support. In education, the focus of this paper, fieldwork remains laced with notions of the anthropologist gathering data in a place that is not their own, which narrowly construct the role of the…

This paper is a retrospective look at the last ten years of development in online third-party arrangements within the Australian higher education sector. A total of 42 higher education providers are reviewed. The analysis initially focuses on the state of online third-party arrangements in Australian higher education. It then investigates the…

The use of group work projects is common in introductory statistics courses, including projects where students collect their own data. However, the COVID-induced lockdown at the start of 2020 meant that data collection was compromised. In this study, we examine a situation where students were permitted to use artificial (made-up) data for their…

As part of a study investigating research productivity of sociology PhD students in Australia, an application to the federal government's Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) aimed to establish a baseline count of completed sociology doctorates by university. It was anticipated that university totals might be different from PhD…

Citizen science is a research collaboration between scientists and volunteers who provide data for education, conservation, and environmental protection. Volunteers, often the locals in the area, provide data on species occurrence while researchers perform distribution mapping or other data analysis. Social networking sites including Facebook,…

Work-integrated learning (WIL) involves employers and industry in education and training. In order to maximize benefits for all involved, sustainable and reciprocal processes are necessary. While institutions may have internal mechanisms to gather feedback from external partners, the feedback process often tends to be ad hoc. To inform the…

This article presents the findings of a systematic qualitative analysis of research in the ethics of digital trace data use in learning and education. From the resulting analysis of 77 peer-reviewed studies, we (1) map the characteristics of research by study type, academic community, institutional setting, and national context; (2) identify the…

The theory of practice architectures is a useful theoretical, methodological and analytical tool for educational research. The use of the theory is emerging as germane in early childhood education research. This article explores concepts from the theory as applied in an early childhood education research project. The article focuses on the concept…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of expectation formation and matching for university student volunteers and their hosts. Design/methodology/approach: This research involved a multi-stage data collection process including interviews with student volunteers, and university and host representatives from six…

Increasingly learning analytics (LA) has begun utilising staff- and student-facing dashboards capturing visualisations to present data to support student success and improve learning and teaching. The use of LA is complex, multifaceted and raises many issues for consideration, including ethical and legal challenges, competing stakeholder views and…

Purpose: This paper aims to review and identify the major patterns and trends in learning analytics practices in higher education institutions. The review covers the characteristics of the institutions, as well as the characteristics and outcomes of the learning analytics practices. Design/methodology/approach: This research collected literature…

This study is part of a research programme investigating the dynamics and impacts of learning engagement in a challenge-based digital learning environment. Learning engagement is a multidimensional concept which includes an individual's ability to behaviourally, cognitively, emotionally, and motivationally engage in an on-going learning process.…