All the data we can get: A contextual study of learning analytics and student privacy

In this dissertation, the author explores student privacy perspectives of higher education actors building capacity for learning analytics. Learning analytics is a socio-technical practice that analyzes data captured from information systems and networks students interact with to inform students’ educational experience, among other ends. Student privacy concerns are inherently linked to learning analytics due to the comprehensive and sensitive nature of the data and information the technology analyzes. The extant literature indicates that very little is known about what student privacy issues institutions are encountering when they adopt learning analytics; equally little is known about how to resolve privacy problems in practice.