Learning Analytics as a Service for Empowered Learners: From Data Subjects to Controllers

As Learning Analytics (LA) in the higher education setting increasingly transitions from a field of research to an implemented matter of fact of the learner's experience, the demand of practical guidelines to support its development is rising. LA Policies bring together different perspectives, like the ethical and legal dimensions, into frameworks to guide the way. Usually the first time learners get in touch with LA is at the act of consenting to the LA tool. Utilising an ethical (TRUESSEC) and a legal framework (GDPR), we question whether sincere consent is possible in the higher education setting. Drawing upon this premise, we then show how it might be possible to recognise the autonomy of the learner by providing LA as a service, rather than an intervention. This could indicate a paradigm shift towards the learner as empowered demander. At last, we show how this might be incorporated within the GDPR by also recognising the demand of the higher education institutions to use the learner's data at the same time. These considerations will in the future influence the development of our own LA policy: a LA criteria catalogue.