Update 17/07/2014: An issue with this idea is that Google Analytics has a consumer limit of 50 Views (Profiles) per GA Account
At the Google Apps for Education European User Group (GEUG14) I highlighted how Google Analytics could be utilised for Learning Analytics. The type of analytic I have in mind goes beyond pageviews and includes event tracking which through Google Analytics can be explored using segmentations and other built I reporting. This approach is not focused on the individual but for generating course and programme actionable insights. Whilst VLE/LMS vendors and platforms are probably already supporting Google Analytics tracking in their products access to this data often never gets beyond the account administrator. This, in my opinion, is a missed opportunity as the reporting in Google Analytics could easily be applied to a Learning Analytics context.
The solution
Integrate your course creation and management processes with the Google Analytics Management API. With this when a course is created or editing for an instructor a filtered view of the main analytics is also created. With a filtered view instructors would be able to access their course analytics.
The main advantages of using Google Analytics for Learning Analytics is:
- the overhead of processing event/click tracking is handled in the cloud by Google
- scalable and manageable access to analytics
