Is e-learning ready for big data? And how big data would be useful to e-learning?

Abstract

The paper presents an overview of possible application fields of big data to the Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL), with the many different facets this could imply. Many are the benefits for e-learning when approaching the collection of data, especially when elearning is delivered in a life-long learning perspective. All these benefits could impact the future of eLearning, by revolutionizing the way we analyze and assess the eLearning experience. On one side, we present our experience in enriching the persistence layer of an LMS with a deeper log system on users’ actions, in the perspective of collecting volumes of data compatible with big data tools and technologies, while highlighting some related issues. On the other hand we will deal with the first applications of cognitive systems that are responsible for catalysing the big data in analytics aimed at e-learning