I have written (or am in the process of writing) several chapters on web analytics in education. The following is a list of some of these readings about Web Analytics. Feel free to comment and share other helpful sources.
Web Analytics References
Ballardvale Research (2007). Market Trends – Web Analytics: History and Future. Online document. Retrieved 8/24/2007 from http://www.ballardvale.com/free/WAHistory.htm
Burby, J., & Atchison, S. (2007). Actionable Web Analytics: Using data to make smart business decisions. Web Publishing, Inc. Indianapolis: Indiana.
Cadez, I., Heckerman, D., Meek, C., Smyth, P., & White, S. (2003). Model-based clustering and visualization of navigation patterns on a Web site. Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, 7, 399-424.
Comunale, C. L., Sexton, T. R., & Voss, D. J. P. (2001-2002). The effectiveness of course Web sites in higher education: An exploratory study. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 30(2), 171-190.
Gao, T., & Lehman, J. D. (2003). The effects of different levels of interaction on the achievement and motivational perceptions of college students in a Web-based learning environment. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 14(4), 367-386.
Hellwege, J., Gleadow, A., & McNaught, C. (1996). Paperless lectures on the Web: An evaluation of the educational outcomes of teaching Geology using the Web. Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Conference of the Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary education (ASCILITE ’96), Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, 289-299.
Horváth, A., & Jókai, E. (2007). Evaluation of University E-learning Courses Based on Data Mining Methods. Presented at the 6th European Distance Education Network (EDEN) Conference. Stockholm, Sweden.
Hwang, W.-Y., & Li, C.-C. (2002). What the user log shows based on learning time distribution. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18, 232-236.
McIsaac, M. S., Blolcher, J. M., Mahes, V., & Vrasidas, C. (1999). Student and teacher perceptions of interaction in online computer-mediated communication. Educational Media International, 36(2), 121-131.
Nachmias, R., & Segev, L. (2003). Students’ use of content in Web-supported academic courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 6, 145-157.
Peled, A., & Rashty, D. (1999). Logging for success: Advancing the use of WWW logs to improve computer mediated distance learning. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 21(4), 413-431.
Rafaeli, S., & Ravid, G. (1997). Online, Web-based learning environment for an information systems course: Access logs, linearity and performance. Proceedings of the Information Systems Education conference (ISECON ’97), Orlando, Florida, USA, 92-99.
Rieger, R. H., & Sturgill, A. (1999). Evaluating Online Environments: Tools for observing users and gathering feedback. New Direction for Evaluation, Number 84, 45-58.
Rogers, P.C., Flores, D., Matthews, K. (2007, Sept). The Learner/Teacher, Online Platforms, and Web Analytics in Learning Design. Presented at the Open Education 2007: Localizing and Learning, Utah State, Logan, Utah.
SenGupta, S., Hopson, R., & Thompson-Robinson, M. (2004). Cultural competence in evaluation: An overview. New Direction for Evaluation, Number 102, 5-19.
Sheard, J. I. (2007). An Investigation of Student Behaviour in Web-based Learning Environments. A dissertation accepted by the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University, Australia.
Watt, J. H. (1999). Internet Systems for Evaluation Research. New Direction for Evaluation, Number 84, 23-43.
Zaiane O., Han J. (2001) Mining for E-Learning Gold. Retrieved from http://wildcat.iat.sfu.ca/theme3/Zaiane1.html
This is very pertinent to some work that a colleague of mine is doing at the moment. I’ll be sharing it with her. It’s interesting how the internet changes and impacts the educational sphere. New issues arise for formal (and informal) educators/learners. I’ve been doing some reading lately about museum websites and their ability to inspire informal learning. An interesting article by Marty and Twindal (2004) indicates that museum websites are often so full of content that users get easily frustrated or confused. They also show that users are actually constrained by museum websites that resemble the physical museum itself. Interestingly, “educational” websites such as enchantedlearning.com are receiving more visitors daily than the Smithsonian’s website. Obviously there is a disconnect between what museum educators/professionals think visitors want out of educational websites and what visitors are actually utilizing.
Marty, P. & Twidale, M. (2004). Lost in gallery space: A conceptual framework for analyzing the usability flaws of museum web sites. First Monday, 9(9). Retrieved November 3, 2008, from http://www.firstmonday.org/ISSUES/issue9_9/marty/
Tammy, thanks for the additional reference. Web analytics definitely has a lot of potential – and is just beginning to be utilized in only a few of the ways in which it can be beneficial.
I am interested in looking at analytics from a staff point of view. For example, looking at workload planning, staff involvement. Has anybody a reference or suggestion concerning looking at the amount of time staff spends on learning spaces (wikis) and creating a workload map of discussion forum entries etc?
Thanks
Laura