[Air-L] Register for SoLAR Webinar "Trust and Utility in Learning Analytics" with Professor Sandra Milligan, University of Melbourne (April 20, via zoom)

[Vitomir Kovanovic]

*apologies for cross posting*

It is our pleasure to invite you to SoLAR Webinar "Trust and utility in learning analytics" presented by Dr Sandra Milligan from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. In this talk Dr Milligan will discuss the important topic of how we are measuring learning and how this relates to the field of learning analytics. See the details of the talk below.

Time and date: April 20, 2021, 5-6 PM Eastern US time (10-11 PM London UK, April 21 7-8 AM Melbourne)
Location: Zoom (meeting URL provided in the registration email)

To register, go to https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/solar-webinar-trust-and-utility-in-learning-analytics-registration-147030071903

(Also, make sure you follow SoLAR's Eventbrite page<https://www.eventbrite.com.au/o/society-for-learning-analytics-research-solar-21953992681> to get updates for the future events).

We are looking forward to seeing you at the webinar!

Kind regards,
Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) Webinar Team
https://solaresearch.org/

Abstract: Ever wondered why your brilliant learning analytics work fails to impact schools and colleges? This presentation brings a perspective on this problem, drawn from the measurement sciences. The measurement sciences provide the tools and mindsets that are used by educators to generate the trust and utility that is required to drive uptake of algorithms, apps and other outputs from learning analytics. Professor Milligan and her team work extensively in the education industry building trusted, useful assessments, apps and tools for assessing hard-to-assess competencies, such as general capabilities, 21st-century skills and professional competence. In this presentation, she identifies a series of 'faulty assumptions' that can be detected from time to time in the design of learning analytics projects. The assumptions relate to how learning, and the assessment of learning, are conceptualised, and how learning is best assessed in practice. She will touch on the ambiguous role of prediction in learning design, and the vital role of alternative hypotheses in ensuring trust and utility when using found data. She will point to some practical standards that can be used when designing projects or reviewing them.

Bio: Enterprise Professor Sandra Milligan is Director of the Assessment Research Centre at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne. Sandra's current research interests focus on assessment, recognition and warranting of hard-to-assess learning. Her most recent, award-winning research examined opportunities for the use of 'big data' and developmental assessment approaches on digital learning platforms to support assessment of higher-order learning skills. The skills, including so-called '21st century skills', or learning skills, have hitherto been difficult for classroom teachers to assess. Sandra has an unusually wide engagement with the education industry and educational research. Originally a teacher of science and mathematics, she is also a former Director of Curriculum in an Australian state education department and has held senior research, management and governance positions in a range of educational organisations, including government agencies, not-for-profits, small start-up businesses and large, listed, international corporations.