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The Learning Analytics Collaborative
Learning Analytics Created By Educators For Educators
Monthly Newsletter
February 2021
Dear LAC Members,

Welcome to our February LAC Newsletter! The new year has already turned to be very busy, so busy in fact we have pushed forward the date of the February newsletter to the end of January to ensure we can tell you about all the developments on time. We have learning events planned for every weekend in February and more! 

On the first weekend, on February 6th, we are taking part in the ELMLE Virtual Conference | 2021: The Space Between. The conference will introduce some of the most sought-after speakers and authors in middle level education. Check out the exciting list of Featured Speakers at ELMLE site. Our session will be at 11:35 am CET+1 where we will introduce Learning Analytics Collaborative to all participants. 

The first cut of the New Interface for LAC is ready to be shared. We would like to invite all interested member schools to a 45 minute demo session on February 13th at 9:00 am CET+1 to share the features of the rebuilt platform. If you would like to attend the session, please use this form

As we announced in last month's newsletter, our 3rd Virtual Meetup is on February 20th. We have two amazing speakers from two LAC member schools. You can find more details below!

A week later, on February 27th (repeat session is on March 20), we are very excited to announce a specialist workshop ‘Data Governance: Putting the House in Order’ by Andrew Blair from Zurich International School. More details in the section below. 

We have concluded the first tier of our LAC Data Literacy Workshops with the last session on 23rd Jan. We have planned to offer the 1st tier workshops again in March, April and May. These will run concurrently with the Tier 2 workshops on ‘Advancing in Data Literacy’. Details about these workshops are below. 

Finally, we are very pleased to announce that we are launching Learning Data Audits! These are aimed at helping schools to effectively manage data assets and fully realize their potential. It will reveal the strengths and weaknesses, and the location, condition, and value of its data assets. Conducting an audit will provide this information, raising awareness of collection strengths, areas of improvement, and data issues to improve overall strategy. More information on this exciting new initiative is shared below!

I am also delighted to welcome the International School of Myanmar to the LAC family. The school has just joined us and is beginning their journey to implement the platform at their school.

All the best, stay safe!

Piotr Olczak
Director of Learning Analytics
Consilience Education Foundation
3rd Virtual Meet up
Our 3rd Virtual Meetup is on February 20th. We have two fantastic presenters from our member schools - Ruth Poulsen, Director of Curriculum & Assessment at the International School of Beijing, and Megan Brazil, Elementary Principal at the United Nations International School of Hanoi. Between them, they will cover learning data retreats and data dialogues. Each session will include time for Q&A where participants can contribute and interact with our presenters. 

The meetup will start at 9:00 European time (CET)+1hr and will last for 2 hours via the virtual conference platform, Nunify. Please follow this LINK to access all details of this exciting event and REGISTER for the program.
LAC Data Governance: Putting the House in Order
As we strive to improve the use of data to support goal setting and decision making, many of us are finding that the huge volumes of data collected over time are challenging to compile for analysis and review. None of us are starting with a blank canvas and, to address these demands, reviews of policies, processes and roles & responsibilities are inevitable. Prior to this, however, we can establish a better understanding of our datasets, taking steps to improve their management and integrity. In this session, we will discuss the challenges surrounding data in schools, and explore practical ideas on governance that could subsequently enhance the outcomes of data collection.

This session will take place on 27th February at 9 am (CET)+1hr and will be presented by Andrew Blair, Head IT Services and Solutions at Zurich International School. The session will be repeated on March 20 at 9 am (CET)+1hr. If you would like to sign up for either of these sessions, please use this form.
LAC Data Literacy Workshops
These workshops are aimed at raising the Data Literacy levels for teachers and other members of the school community at our LAC Schools. Data literacy is a key enabler to efficiently consume information, have data-informed conversations, and gain valuable insights. The workshops are divided into three tiers: 
  • Introduction to Data Literacy
  • Advancing in Data Literacy
  • Mastering Data Literacy. 

The first tier is designed to introduce the audience to basics about data while Tier 2 explores how to turn information into insight - how to read and question data, using the most common LAC Engines, and will allow participants to share their insights. Tier 1 consists of 3 modules run over 4 sessions; Tier 2 has 5 modules run over 5 sessions. Starting on March 27th, modules from Tier 1 and 2 will run concurrently according to the following schedule. All times are (CET)+1hr:
All information can be found at this Link. If you would like to sign up for these sessions, please use the form.

If you would like to schedule the Data Literacy workshops for a cohort of teachers at your school, please email lac@consiliencelearning.org with suggested dates and times. 
Learning Data Audits
In order to effectively manage data assets and fully realize their potential, any school must first be aware of the location, condition and value of its data. Conducting an audit will provide this information, raising awareness of collection strengths, highlighting areas of improvement as well as potential data issues to improve overall strategy. An audit will highlight duplication of efforts and areas that require additional investment, allowing any school to optimise its resources. It will also highlight shortfalls in data creation and control practices, suggesting changes to minimise the potential risks. Broadly speaking, auditing school’s data assets yields the following benefits:
  • prioritisation of resources which leads to efficiency savings
  • ability to manage risks associated with data loss and misuse
  • increasing the value of data assets through improved access and reuse
  • enabling effective and efficient learning analytics and data visualization for data-informed decision making

Full information can be found here

If you are interested in conducting such a Learning Data Audit at your school, please contact Piotr.
Engine of the Month - Class Placement Engine
The Class Placement Engine is a set of tools that utilize the student profile data to support teachers with the process of class placements and the analysis of class/cohort compositions and distributions. It allows Elementary Schools to easily place their students into the next year’s classes by looking at the school's defined criteria such as academic level, student connections, learning needs etc. Its advanced algorithm runs multiple iterations to place students and find balanced classes as well as allows users to manually allocate students if needed. 

It consists of two elements: the first one is where teachers and other staff involved in the student allocation process enter the required data that will drive the allocation. This can be modified and customized for a school’s specific needs and parameters.
The second element is the output side, the actual heart of the engine carrying out the placement process. The user decides on the number of sections and the algorithm optimizes allocation through sequential iterations. Once the output is ready, the user can see all details regarding all sections, advanced statistics (customizable), as well as manually move students between sections as required.
If you would like to find out more about this engine, please see the short video on the LAC Online Learning Center. If you would like to add this engine to your school’s LAC site or have any questions about its usage, please contact Piotr.
Data Literacy - Building a Culture of Data Use

Please read this fascinating article posted on Edutopia; Understanding how people learn and reliably commit things to memory is what prompted psychology professor Mirjam Ebersbach and her colleagues at the University of Kassel to study how students prepare for an exam, and what strategies yielded the optimal improvements in student learning. Learn how asking students to create their own questions has a powerful impact on learning. Plus, 5 tips to encourage high-quality questions.
Useful Links
Consilience is a non-profit, global education innovation company that supports institutions and educators to transform teaching and learning. We provide leadership training and professional development in the areas of Innovation Leadership, Technology Integration, Maker Learning, Online Learning and Learning Analytics. For more information about our work, please visit our website: www.consiliencelearning.org 
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