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This article analyzes the concerns surrounding analytics from a sociocritical perspective. I will use this article to examine potential benefits of as well as pitfalls associated with analytics as well as the six principles proposed to address ethical issues in analytics.

This article describes the history of analytics from the 1990's to the present. The article analyzes case studies of universities who have successfully used analytics. I will use it for these purposes as well as to examine the considerations and concerns that need to be made before the use of data analytics becomes more widespread in universities.

This article analyzes the constraints of analytics when used to improve student retention. I will use it for this purpose as well as its discussion on the lack of security associated with educational data.

This article highlights the expanding field of analytics in education. I will use it for a concise definition of learning analytics and the potential that it holds. The article also discussed what can be done to improve analytics as well as acknowledging its limitations.

Kizilcec, R. F., Piech, C. and Schneider, E. (2013). Deconstructing disengagement: analyzing learner subpopulations in massive open online courses. In Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (pp. 170-179). New York, NY, USA: ACM. doi:10.1145/2460296.2460330 The abstract begins as follows: "As MOOCs grow in popularity, the relatively low completion rates of learners has been a central criticism. This focus on completion rates, however, reflects a monolithic view of disengagement that does not allow MOOC designers to target interventions or develop adaptive course features for particular subpopulations of learners. To address this, we present a simple, scalable, and informative classification method that identifies a small number of longitudinal engagement trajectories in MOOCs." This peer reviewed conference paper goes on to describe how they classified learners and using data analytics from 3 courses as well as survey data from learners they developed 4 classifications. Of these classifications in addition to those who completed the courses, the auditors were of interest. They proceeded to suggest possible areas where the MOOC approaches could be adapted and tested to meet the needs of learners such as auditors. They also considered ways of increasing access and equity.

This article promotes the use of analytics in education. I will use this article as it looks at the positives of analytics and acknowledges the hurdles it will face in the future.

As mobile technologies continue to evolve, libraries seek sustainable ways to keep up with these changes and to best serve our users. Previous library mobile usability research has examined tasks users predict they might be likely to perform, but little is known about what users actually do on a mobile-optimized library site. This research used a combination of survey method and web analytics to examine what tasks users actually carry out on a library mobile site. The results indicate that users perform an array of passive and active tasks and do not want content choices to be limited on mobile devices. Responsive design is described as a long-term solution for addressing both designers' and users' needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR][Abstract from EBSCOHost Education Source: Full-text article available in ESC library databases.] Link: http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.library.esc.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=24&sid=777400f5-917a-43a0-83b8-26cdc83f8315%40sessionmgr4003&hid=4103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=93378674&db=a9h Gascho Rempel, H., & Bridges, L. l. (2013). That Was Then, This Is Now: Replacing the Mobile-Optimized Site with Responsive Design. Information Technology & Libraries, 32(4), 8-24.