Making headway on the literature review

Linking the current literature on learning analytics to coaching proved more challenging than expected. In a first article search, little popped up. Combining lemmas like ‘coaching’, ‘student support’ and ‘learning analytics’ didn’t yield what we hoped for. After some time of trial and error, we took a new road. We went snowballing!

In reviews we did find a (implicit) references to how certain initiatives focussed on coaching or student support. We ran through three reviews, highlighted articles referenced we deemed relevant and looked up the abstracts. Based on the abstracts, we selected relevant articles that were processed.

Gradually, we were finding the relevant literature. The literature review is at a close and advices are starting to surface… Exciting first output is on its way!

Virtual Christmas meeting

Today the project team had a virtual meeting to catch up just before Christmas. Discussing the project website, several outputs, literature reviews, and interview questions for our research… there is a lot to do and we’re really excited to be getting stuck in!

Our automatic scheduling system also planned us in to meet on Christmas Eve. Despite our enthusiasm, the families vetoed. As such, we are back online, with all partners, the beginning of January.

Getting started

In the drizzle of November rain, sunny faces gathered in Ghent for the first transnational meeting. Two main points topped the agenda: sharing what we are doing on learning analytics and coaching and discussing how we are going to reach our goals. 

From this meeting onwards, we have scheduled an online meeting every two weeks. During the meetings we will discuss each intellectual input and the practical implementation of the project (transfer of funds, subcontracts, etc.). It won’t come as a surprise that the first is closer to our hearts. 

The main results of the meeting: a warm connection between the project group, a renewed focus on the content of the project and a timeline towards our goals.