A Language and a Space

Abstract

Visualizations are quickly becoming an integral part of learning analytics for knowledge discovery, sensemaking, and insight. Empowering educators and learners, visualizations make data graphically accessible through a range of perceptual modes. As the embodiment of learners' data, visualizations give them a thing to reflect upon, potentially arriving at insights they may otherwise not have. Visualizations aid educators in behavioral monitoring, formative feedback provision, and strategic intervention. They support learners' motivation and self-regulation, focusing attention on the behaviors associated with academic success. As a mechanism for joint knowledge work, visualizations are collaboratively used to produce, translate, and facilitate communication around shared learning artifacts. This visualization survey explores disposition, predictive, semantic, discourse, collaborative and social learning analytics tools within a variety of learning spaces. In their entirety, they represent both the historical and the novel, from conceptual designs to empirically validated tools.