Learning Analytics in Academic Writing Instruction – Opportunities Provided by Thesis Writer (TW)

Abstract

No thesis - no graduation. Academic writing poses manifold challenges to students, instructors and institutions. Consequently, the question arose to what extent academic writing instruction can be supported electronically. With Thesis Writer (TW), a domain-specific, technology-supported learning environment for scaffolding academic writing, combined with an online editor optimised for producing academic text was implemented. Recently, a tracking function was also implemented that allows for fine-grained studying of user interaction with the system, and therefore also their writing and learning processes. In the demonstration, the researchers will present the data types collected, the tracking technology, and the learning analytics opportunities that TW provides.