5.4 Influence of learning analytics on SoTL practice

Learning analytics data has broadened the evidence base for reflective practice in SoTL. SoTL and learning analytics have a symbiotic relationship and are interrelated processes that are continually seeking to improve learning and teaching (van Barneveld et al., 2012). Learning analytics help to enhance the understanding of teaching and learning, while SoTL is informing the learning analytics community on important areas to focus on. Both learning analytics and SoTL are inquiry-based disciplines that go beyond content knowledge and into the broader realm of student learning (van Barneveld et al., 2012).

As big data and learning analytics are both embraced and challenged in SoTL research, new possibilities for SoTL inquiries will emerge that will use large-scale data sets and will run across internal and external institutional boundaries. Such SoTL inquiries will extend the impact of SoTL beyond a module or a department and help to align SoTL projects with both institutional and national expectations (Rehrey et al., 2019).