Connecting the dots - A literature review on learning analytics indicators from a learning design perspective

Background During the past decade, the increasingly heterogeneous field of learning analytics has been critiqued for an over-emphasis on data-driven approaches at the expense of paying attention to learning designs. Method and objective In response to this critique, we investigated the role of learning design in learning analytics through a systematic literature review. 161 learning analytics (LA) articles were examined to identify indicators that were based on learning design events and their associated metrics. Through this research, we address two objectives. First, to achieve a better alignment between learning design and learning analytics by proposing a reference framework, where we present possible connections between learning analytics and learning design. Second, to present how LA indicators and metrics have been researched and applied in the past. Results and conclusion In our review, we found that a number of learning analytics papers did indeed consider learning design activities for harvesting user data. We also found a consistent increase in the number and quality of indicators and their evolution over the years.