Amigos Library Services and the University Libraries at Washington University in St. Louis Host Privacy and Learning Analytics Workshop

Amigos Library Services and the University Libraries at Washington University in St. Louis were pleased to host "Privacy and Learning Analytics: A Data Ethics Workshop for Library Professionals" on Friday March 31, 2023. The workshop, led by Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe, Professor & Coordinator for Research and Teaching Professional Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is part of the IMLS-funded Prioritizing Privacy project.

The course presented a shared definition of learning analytics as "the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs." [1] Library analytics, then, "refers to library data whose primary use is in improving library services, but which may also contribute to the larger understanding of students in the campus context."[2]

With those pieces of shared understanding, Hinchliffe helped participants explore the social, political, and technological elements of learning analytics in higher education, generally, and academic libraries, specifically.  Time in the workshop was spent on an environmental scan to understand how learning analytics is adopted across institutions.  Attendees also gained an understanding of how to plan for ethical and evidence-based library learning analytics projects based in privacy by design. Lastly, they developed individual learning plans regarding learning analytics, information privacy, and ethical practice.

While learning analytics programs are still being explored and formalized at different campuses, attendees were encouraged to consider themed messages - related to data ethics, data management, trust, and other issues - that could be shared with campus administrators, teaching faculty, library colleagues, and library administrators.

Hinchliffe encouraged libraries' engagement in learning analytics from three perspectives - to improve the education interventions that libraries can offer; to advocate for resources to support library services; and to guide the ethical use of data across institutions' use of learning analytics.

Amigos Library Services would like to thank the academic library staff that attended the workshop and Lisa Hinchliffe for sharing her time and expertise. Special thanks to the faculty and staff of the University Libraries at Washington University in St. Louis, especially Mimi Calter, Vice Provost and University Librarian; Christy Matteuzzi, Chief of Staff; and Elizabeth Willey, Administrative Assistant in the Office of the Vice Provost & University Librarian.

[1] Conole, G., Gasevic, D., Long, P., & Siemens, G., Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge, LAK 2011, doi=10.1145/2090116
[2] Library Learning Analytics Project, https://libraryanalytics.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2019/04/LLAP-Pri...