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Citation Analysis
An approach that emphasized tracking citations between scientific articles to allow scientists to observe how research was disseminated and validated in order to better understand scientific developments (Siemens, 2013, p. 1383). -
Education & Cognitive Modeling
Cognitive modeling, in terms of education, sought to map how learners developed knowledge by examining how information comes in, is processed, and leads to certain outcomes in order to predict how learners solve problems (David, 2015; Siemens, 2013, p. 1383). -
Social Network Analysis
The key concepts of social network emerged in the 1970s. Sociologists and anthropologists used mathematics and highly technical forms of analysis to identify and describe patterns in social relationships (Scott, 2017, p.2) -
User Modeling
Also emerging in the 1970s and still in use today, user modeling researchers examine human-computer interactions to learn how to design better systems (Siemens, 2013, p.1383). -
Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD)
The KDD process is what we typically think of when we think Big Data. Using algorithms, the KDD process extracts knowledge from large data sets (Hamilton, 2012; Siemens, 2013, p.1384). -
Adaptive Hypermedia Model
Closely related to user modeling, from the 1990s the adaptive hypermedia model "build a model of the goals, preferences and knowledge of each individual user, and use this model throughout the interaction with the user, in order to adapt to the needs of that user" (Brusilovsky, 2001,p.87). -
E-Learning
The term e-learning was used for the first time in 1999, but has its roots in distance education (Leeuwe, n.d.). E-learning has advanced learning analytics by capturing and providing learner data for analysis (Siemens, 2013, p. 1384). -
Academic Analytics
Sometimes mislabeled as learning analytics, academic analytics uses business intelligence to improve organizational processes and operation (Siemens, 2013, p.1384).