Last week, coLAPs took part in the Nordic Learning Analytics Summer Institute (Nordic-LASI) hosted by Tallinn University in Tallinn on August 28-30. Nordic-LASI commenced Wednesday afternoon with a multimodal data gathering session followed by the opening ceremony and keynote address from Dr. Inge Molenaar from Radboud University.
From Wednesday to Friday, we took part in workshops that explored topics such as data analysis, datavisualization, self-regulated learning, and supporting learning. Interspersed among the workshops were valuable networking opportunities (and invaluable flows of coffee) to get better acquainted with many of the other people who are also studying educational science and learning analytics in the Nordic region.
In what felt like no time at all, Friday morning arrived, and it was time for us to conduct our own workshop on using Learning Analytics to design appropriate feedback. Overall, the workshop was a good experience not only for the participants involved, but for Irene and me as well as it was the first workshop we’ve facilitated as a team.
After a brief introduction of coLAps and our goal, we proceeded with a short theoretical explanation of several key pedagogical concepts, such as scaffolding, the Zone of Proximal Development, the Assistance Dilemma, and Contingent Tutoring. Afterwards, workshop participants were divided into small groups to design learning interventions based on several potential scenarios before wrapping up with a large roundtable discussion on the designed interventions.
Not long after, Nordic-LASI came to a close and Dr. Molenaar closed out the event just as she opened it. As for next year’s Nordic-LASI, it will be hosted in Stockholm, Sweden.
