Comments on: Resources and Articles on Web Analytics in Education

By: Tammy

Tammy — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:24:05 +0000

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/

By: Clint

Clint — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:21:37 +0000

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.

By: laura

laura — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:03:10 +0000

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