Operation of the Centre

Our operation

The Centre for Learning Analytics works towards developing and researching digital teaching and learning analytics. The operation is divided into three fields: the research of digital teaching and learning analytics, advancing the materials, tools and practices used in teaching and guidance, and finally, the societal impact in the use of digital tools and analytics.

A concrete example of the operation of the Centre is the digital learning platform ViLLE, which is widely used in schools, universities, and universities of applied sciences. Research shows that learning based on the ViLLE platform is linked to better results in learning, more effective study guidance, and a higher number of completed studies in several subjects.

The Centre for Learning Analytics is visibly and proudly part of the University of Turku, and its operation is linked to the university’s strategy as a developer of better teaching.

Research

Our research is diversely focused on digital learning and learning analytics. Currently, some of our key areas of research are:

psychometrics combined with learning analytics
the pedagogy of programming
automatic recognition of learning difficulties
the digital learning path in mathematics
sensor data in learning analytics

Publications research.utu.fi

Projects

Ongoing projects

Below can be found some examples of our projects in which the Centre for Learning Analytics is currently participating. In case you are planning a project in which we could collaborate, please be in contact with us.

Growing Mind

Educational transformations to support personal, social, and institutional renewal in the digital age. The purpose of this project (2018–2023) is to support the renewal of Finnish schools and teachers with the support of high-level academic research. The positive development of young people is the most important resource for sustainable growth in the future. This project supports that with the help of six work packages. The role of the Centre for Learning Analytics in this project is to plan and carry out research related to learning analytics and support other actors in the project with tasks regarding analytics.

Project homepage

DEFA — Digital Education for All

DEFA (Digital Education for All) is a collaborative project of five Finnish universities. The purpose of the project is to offer free online courses in computer science for anyone interested. The offered courses correspond to the first year of studies in computer science. Completing these courses provides a separate route when applying to study in the universities that are part of this project, University of Turku being one these. The Centre for Learning Analytics carries out these courses in Turku and the course platform is naturally ViLLE.

Project homepage

JoMa — Flexible Mathematics

Flexible mathematics is a complementary training program for early childhood teachers, teachers in pre-primary and basic education, general upper secondary school teachers, and particularly for special needs teachers. It is offered online and responds to current challenges. Training consists of a common introductory course and advanced and optional courses aimed for different groups of teachers and instructors. ViLLE is used as the course platform in the project. In addition, the Centre for Learning Analytics carries out an optional course called Computational Thinking and Programming Environments for the project.

Project homepage

APOA

This projects develops utilisation of learning analytics, digital environments supporting and enabling learning analytics, and higher education pedagogy utilising learning analytics in the universities of applied sciences.

The main role of the Centre for Learning Analytics is to develop means and tools for learning analytics and to provide teachers and other actors in the project training to use these tools. In addition, the Centre for Learning Analytics assists in analysing data if needed.

Project homepage

AnalyticsIntel - Learning analytics and educational paths

A project between universities developing implementation of learning analytics and increasing awareness of the possibilities of analytics. The role of the Centre for Learning Analytics is to introduce the possibilities of learning analytics for other actors in the project and its current implementation in the Department of Future Technologies. This project also aims to develop this model and to adjust means and technology to better fit for the use of other actors in the project and for the data in use.

Project homepage

Educational technology collaboration with the city of Salo

Higher education and research institution collaboration in the City of Salo aims to take care of developing knowledge in Salo. The city offers its own operations and knowledge for the use of higher education and research institutions so that it can evaluate and develop its own operation at the same time. The University of Turku and the City of Salo have a collaboration agreement, based on which Salo and the university can co-fund projects related to developing and implementing learning technology.

Project homepage

TeaEdu4CT Erasmus+

The Centre of Learning Analytics have been participating in the TeaEdu4CT Erasmus+ project (2019-2022), which has developed teaching materials where Computational Thinking is used to support learning of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Maths) topics for basic education and high school. Ten countries have collaborated in the project and ten modules have been created (1 ETCS each or circa 27 hours/module). Modules can be taught separately or combined into larger courses. The target audience is future teachers, but the content is also suitable for creating courses in related topics. The course materials are free of charge and shared under a permissive creative commons licence. Additional information of the project and the teaching materials for the modules can be found on the project website

Project homepage