An evaluation of policy frameworks for addressing ethical considerations in learning analytics

Higher education institutions have collected and analysed student data for years, with their focus largely on reporting and management needs. A range of institutional policies exist which broadly set out the purposes for which data will be used and how data will be protected. The growing advent of learning analytics has seen the uses to which student data is put expanding rapidly. Generally though the policies setting out institutional use of student data have not kept pace with this change. Institutional policy frameworks should provide not only an enabling environment for the optimal and ethical harvesting and use of data, but also clarify: who benefits and under what conditions, establish conditions for consent and the de-identification of data, and address issues of vulnerability and harm. A directed content analysis of the policy frameworks of two large distance education institutions shows that current policy frameworks do not facilitate the provision of an enabling environment for learning analytics to fulfil its promise.