Exploring Usage Analysis in Learning Systems: Gaining Insights From Visualisations

This paper presents a novel approach of exploring usage analysis in learning systems by means of graphical representations. Learning systems collect large amounts of student data that can be used by instructors to become aware of what is happening in distance learning classes. Instead of being processed with techniques from user modelling, data is displayed “as it is”. Techniques from Information Visualization show how useful insights can be gained from graphical representations. A system called GISMO illustrates the proposed approach. By presenting graphical representations, GISMO allows the user to visualize data from courses collected in real settings. We will show how using graphical representations of student tracking data enables instructors to identify tendencies in their classes, or to quickly discover individuals who need special attention.