ICELW 2020 was delighted to feature two keynote speakers: noted researcher and learning analytics expert Ryan Baker, Ph.D. of the University of Pennsylvania and Antonella Poce, Ph.D., a world-renowned expert on research education methodology and evaluation from Roma Tre University. Further information about our keynote speakers is below.

Ryan Baker, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Director, Penn Center for Learning Analytics
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Talk: Learning Analytics: Potential Opportunities for e-Learning in the Workplace

In the last decades, the power of data mining and analytics has transformed practice in field after field. In this talk, I will discuss how this trend is playing out in education. Increasingly, large-scale data is available on students, whether from school information systems, large-scale field observational methods, or the logs of online learning systems. Much of this data represents student behavior in a fashion that is both longitudinal and fine-grained. This has allowed researchers to model and track many elements of student learning that were not previously feasible at scale: engagement, affect, meta-cognition, complex skill, and robust learning. In turn, these models can be used in prediction of long-term student outcomes, and in interventions that promote student success.

These technologies, developed first in K-12 and undergraduate contexts, are beginning to play an important role in e-learning in the workplace as well. In this talk, I will illustrate this potential with examples from both e-learning and more traditional educational settings, discussing how new advances in this type of technology can be applied to benefit e-learning in the workplace.

Throughout the talk, I will both discuss the current state of the art in learning analytics, and some of the key challenges and opportunities for applying these methods at scale in practice.

About Dr. Baker
Ryan Baker is an Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Penn Center for Learning Analytics. His lab conducts research on engagement and robust learning within online and blended learning, seeking to find actionable indicators that can be used today but which predict future student outcomes. Baker has developed models that can automatically detect student engagement in over a dozen online learning environments, and has led the development of an observational protocol and app for field observation of student engagement that has been used by over 150 researchers in 6 countries. Predictive analytics models he helped develop have been used to benefit hundreds of thousands of students, over a hundred thousand people have taken MOOCs he ran, and he has coordinated longitudinal studies that spanned over a decade. He was the founding president of the International Educational Data Mining Society, is currently serving as Editor of the journal Computer-Based Learning in Context, is Associate Editor of two journals, was the first technical director of the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center DataShop, and currently serves as Co-Director of the MOOC Replication Framework (MORF). Baker has co-authored published papers with over 300 colleagues.

Antonella Poce, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, qualified as Full Professor, in Experimental Pedagogy
Department of Education. Roma Tre University
Rome, Italy

Talk: Learning Analytics: How to Define, Assess and Develop Critical Thinking in Professional Development Contexts - Reflections and Empirical Evidence

The Center for Museum Studies (CDM), in the Department of Education at Roma Tre University, led by Professor Antonella Poce, has been involved in Critical Thinking (CT) assessment research studies for the last few years. Educational policy makers identify CT as an essential driver for progress and knowledge growth in any field and in the broad society. However, CT is still a disputed concept with several different definitions that come from many approaches. The seminar is meant to provide a theoretical framework for CT definition and assessment findings collected by CDM in recent research. Research experiences concerning in particular STEM and heritage education (Tinkering), analytical and creative writing inspired by pieces of art and related literary texts, with a view of professional development in different fields, will be presented. Pedagogical implications for a CT education will be formulated, with a specific focus on the positive impact of cultural heritage and literature fruition, and individual and collaborative writing activity supported by the use of digital technology.

About Dr. Poce
Antonella Poce is an Associate Professor, qualified as Full Professor, in Experimental Pedagogy at the Department of Education at Roma Tre University in Italy. Her expertise concerns research education methodology and evaluation. Over the past five years, her interests have been focused on methods to develop and assess transverse skills and dispositions (critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication) in different kinds of users by combining formal, non-formal and informal methods through the use of innovative digital technologies. Currently, within her research group, she has been working on Critical Thinking automatic assessment through the analysis of open-ended questions and essays. She chairs the Centre for Museum Education at the Dept. of Education at Roma Tre University as well as post-graduate courses entitled Museum Education and Advanced Studies in Museum Education. She coordinates national research units within European project frameworks, and has been chairing international academic committees dealing with distance learning. She is presently chair of EDEN NAP, the Network of Academics and Professionals. Dr. Poce is the author of a number of publications of national and international relevance on the topics of innovation, assessment, and the use of technology in teaching and learning.