This document discusses using MediaWiki platforms to analyze learning through open educational resources and learning analytics. MediaWiki allows for verbatim reuse, adaptation, remixing, and redistribution of open content. Tracking user interactions through "paradata" like favorites, tags, and linked content can provide insights into learning. Learning analytics aims to measure, collect, analyze and report data about learners and contexts to optimize learning. Case studies discussed include using badges and analytics on Wikipedia to measure engagement and quality of contributions. Tools like Snuggle and WikiLyticscan help analyze editing patterns and quality. Overall, the document calls for using MediaWiki tools to support education and contributing to their development.

1. Analysing Learning through Mediawiki
Simon Knight @sjgknight, user:sjgknight
http://people.kmi.open.ac.uk/knight/

2. Open Educational Resources
• Open Educational Resources (OER) – learning
materials for free use and reuse

3. Open in OER
Mediawiki provides facility for:
• Verbatim reuse (copy or
transclude)
• Adaptation (of the page, or
versioning)
• Remixing (combine bits of
content, through transclusion
or copying)
• Redistribute (widely available
platform, export options to
PDF, etc. )
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lego_DNA.jpg

4. OER & Paradata
• Paradata – track
use, not just hit
counters but
favourites, tags, lin
ked content, etc.
User
characteristics
also inform.

5. The learner side – who is
interacting, and how?
• learning analytics is “the
measurement, collection, anal
ysis and reporting of data
about learners and their
contexts, for purposes of
understanding and optimising
learning and the environments
in which it occurs” (LAK11) – in
informal, and formal learning
contexts (LAK12

6. Why, What, How of LA
• Why – we can capture data on/offline, if we
can use this support students so much the
better
• What – attendance, social
network/interactions, discourse
analytics, dispositional analytics, grades, etc.
• How – user submitted, learning platform trace
(mediawiki, moocs, VLEs, etc.)

7. Use case: Badges in Scotland
Specific areas the OBSEG will be considering
include:
• Learner Progress:
achievement, attainment, employability, soft
skills, recognition / accreditation of prior
learning (RPL / APL), modes of
assessment, linking to standards, access and
inclusion, library / learning resources, MOOCs

8. Use cases
• WMF – Wide range of Wikimedia based
• WMUK – VLE badges
• Beyond – mediawiki infrastructure education
scope

9. The VLE & Badges
•
•
•
•
Community v auto-accreditation
What do we want to badge?
Analytics as proxies (tag spotting, <ref> etc.)
What tools can be appropriated

10. Use case: Wikipedia Adventure

11. Use case: Wikipedia Adventure
Success metrics for project:
• more edits?
• longer engagement?
• more article space edits?
• fewer edits reverted?

12. Use Case: EduWiki
Humphrey Southall:
• Systematic data (templates completed)
• Sense of place (local reference)
• Expanding sources (adding references over
article/provided)
• Layout & illustration (headings, images)
• Quality of referencing (citation styles, ProveIt, etc.)
• Engagement with community (Talk, Summary, tagging
etc.)
• Adherence to guidelines (Reversions?, tagged)
• Missing “” on quotations (search, etc.)

13. Tools
• Snuggle: Support system for newcomers. Allows editors
to observe activities of new editors and separate
desirable newcomers (good-faith & productive) from
the undesirables (bad-faith & vandals

14. Tools
Wikiblame
• Search article history for text
• Establish when and by whom
vandalism, copyright violations or promotional
material was added to an article.
• Find quotation adding editor to ask for inline
citation

15. WikiLytics
• WikiTrust
• Collaboration Diagram (&
deeper metrics)
• Edit counts (or, edit size, or
time spent editing)
• Feedback Tool (with actions –
“To improve the
trustwothyness…”)

16. LA for paradata
OER Potential:
• What learner skills do you need to access this
resource?
• Who can help you with this resource?
• What will you learn from this resource?
• How can you contribute to this community?
• What pathways do similar learners take to this
resource?

17. So what?
A call:
1. To Wikimedia people, to consider how tools
can be used in education
2. To Educators, to consider using such
tools, and contributing to their development

18. Thank you
MediaWiki for OER and Learning Analytics
Understanding learning resources, and learners
Simon Knight @sjgknight, user:sjgknight
http://people.kmi.open.ac.uk/knight/

19. • Intro to paradata/reflection on EduWiki conference
http://www.nominettrust.org.uk/knowledgecentre/blogs/wikipedia-education-and-tracking-how-knowledgeused
• paradata may facilitate ‘linkedup’ OER – for
personalised, connected learning repositories
http://www.nominettrust.org.uk/knowledge-centre/blogs/findingknowledge-linking-open-educational-resources
• Some ways of tracking open content in the wild – this is a key
challenge for CC licence, measuring ‘impact’
http://www.nominettrust.org.uk/knowledgecentre/blogs/measuring-impact-tracking-open-content-wild
• OGL licence content and issues with PDFs
http://www.nominettrust.org.uk/knowledge-centre/blogs/creativecommons-open-government-licensing-and-pdfs

20. Mediawiki context
• http://en.wikivet.net/Veterinary_Education_O
nline
• http://edfutures.net/Main_Page and
http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Main_Page