Usefulness of Information Visualizations Based on Educational Data Anne-Maritta Tervakari, Kirsi Silius, Juho Koro, Jukka Paukkeri, and Olli Pirttilä Intelligent Information Systems Laboratory, Department of Mathematics Tampere University of Technology Tampere, Finland anne.tervakari@tut.fi, kirsi.silius@tut.fi, juho.koro@tut.fi, jukka.paukkeri@tut.fi, olli.pirttila@tut.fi Abstract—In this article, we introduce the results of a study concerning the usefulness of five educational data visualizations implemented in an online course. Information about the teachers’ and students’ opinions on the usefulness of the visualizations was collected by using a web survey and the focus group method. To ensure that the visualizations are in used correctly during the course, their use was also tracked by using a web analytics platform. Well-designed and usable visual analytic tools and visualizations can help teachers make decisions regarding potential pedagogical strategies, instructional guidance, actions, and interventions that may be used to promote and support students’ participation and activity. According to the results of this research, most of the students seemed to prefer visualizations that offer concrete and practical support for their studies rather than visualizations that support them in monitoring and evaluating their own learning performance. Keywords—data visualizations; learning analytics;evaluation I. INTRODUCTION Social media and Web 2.0 tools, which are often freely available on the Internet, have been utilized in a context of higher education for years. The majority of modern web-based learning environments used in higher education have social media features to support communication and collaboration among online students. At the same time, the role of teacher has changed from a knowledge distributor to a facilitator of self-directed learning. Therefore, instructional design and the use of social media should concentrate on facilitating the learning process [1]. Rich log data regarding student actions recorded in many learning environments can provide useful and valuable information that can be utilized in facilitating learning for the right students at the right time. However, the majority of web-based learning environments do not have appropriate tools to support the utilization of log data for improving online learning. Another challenge is that large amounts of data can be difficult for people to analyze, interpret, and understand. However, if the data is presented in correct, clear, and effective ways, humans can process incredible amounts of data [2]. Visualizations of data can also help users better understand the data [3]. In an educational context, a well-designed visualization of learning data can provide useful information for both teachers and students, helping them to understand and optimize the learning process [4]. In order to support the utilization of educational log data, the Intelligent Information Systems Laboratory (IISLab) at Tampere University of Technology (TUT) has developed a visual analytic tool that was implemented in the TUT Circle 1 , a social-media-enhanced web service for learning, networking, and communication. The tool supports the analysis and visualization of log data and thus helps teachers and students to monitor students’ activity and participation during online courses in real time. To examine the usefulness of the educational data visualizations from both the teachers’ and students’ points of view, IISLab organized a research study in 2013. Five educational data visualizations were implemented in an online course entitled Web Content Production. As a part of the course assignments, the students responded to a web survey that aimed to gather information about their opinions of the visualizations. The actual use of the visualizations implemented in the online course was verified by using a web analytics platform called Mixpanel 2 . In addition, the information about the teachers’ and academic coordinators’ opinions on the visualizations was collected in a workshop organized as a part of a national Finnish conference, Peda Forum Day. The aims of the research study were to discover the following: 1) what kinds of visualization are considered useful and 2) whether students use the visualizations for educational purposes during the course. This study is part of a Finnish national project called Campus Conexus, which is being carried out from 2009 to 2014, and is financed by the European Social Fund. II. VISUALIZATIONS OF LEARNING DATA The use of social-media-enhanced environments in a higher educational context can create clear benefits for teachers and students. Social-media-enhanced environments can facilitate communication and collaboration within student communities by supporting information sharing and the distribution of materials, providing collaborative learning tools, and providing for the storage of large amount of information [5]. The use of social media can also offer students opportunities to work together, learn from one another, and develop and practice their interaction, collaboration, and networking skills [5] [6] [7]. However, success in online learning requires a high level of 1 http://hlab.ee.tut.fi/piiri/demo-group 2 https://mixpanel.com 978-1-4799-3190-3/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE 3-5 April 2014, Military Museum and Cultural Center, Harbiye, Istanbul, Turkey 2014 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) Page 142