«The promise and challenges of Multimodal Learning Analytics»
Mutlu CukurovaUniversity College London
Abstract
Multimodal Learning Analytics (MMLA) has gathered an increasingly significant amount of interest from the research communities of Learning Analytics and Artificial Intelligence in Education within the last decade. In this talk, I will present three different conceptualisations of MMLA and present some of the arguments with research evidence behind the claims that MMLA has the potential to advance the learning analytics field and educational practice. In addition, I will highlight considerations that MMLA can be a dangerous idea and should be approached with great caution since our first intuition of whether MMLAs to be taken forward in practice, or not, require a close examination with research evidence and stakeholder engagement. This talk aims to present a holistic cover of the emerging research potential of MMLA to help us better monitor, model, and support learning, but it does not ignore our reflections upon some of the reasons behind the morally troubling nature of MMLA driven by our recent real-world implementations. Different MMLA conceptualisations are likely to contribute to educational research and practice to different degrees and might have a different likelihood of being denounced by stakeholders if used in real-world practice. The talk is concluded with a potentially productive research direction moving forward, and aims to open up the discussion about the potential and challenges of MMLA rather than providing definitive answers to significantly challenging questions raised.
Bio
Mutlu Cukurova is an Associate Professor at University College London in the United Kingdom. His research investigates the potential of analytics and artificial intelligence solutions to support human learning with a particular focus on the ability to learn “how to learn” and solve problems collaboratively. Dr Cukurova, as an internationally recognised expert, published over 100 academic manuscripts in top-tier journals (i.e Computers and Education, CHB, BJET) and conferences (i.e AIED, LAK, CHI) in the fields of AI in Education and Learning Analytics providing significant theoretical and methodological contributions to the field. In addition, he directs the UCLAT team at UCL, is engaged with UNESCO’s Unit for Technology and AI in Education, was the programme co-chair of the International Conference of AI in Education in 2020 and the international conference of computer-supported education in 2022, is a Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow, is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Educational Technology and an associate editor of the International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction.
