Towards Open Data in Digital Education Platforms

Despite the traction gained by the open data movement and the rise of big data and learning analytics in education, there is limited support for researchers in education to generate, access, and share experimental data using openly-available digital education platforms. To explore how this gap could be addressed and elicit requirements, we conducted a survey with 40 researchers in the field of technology-enhanced learning, examining their experience and needs handling research data. Drawing on the results of our survey, we devised a set of features that educational platforms should provide to address the identified requirements, enabling researchers in education to run studies within typical learning environments, adhere to legal and ethical frameworks concerning privacy, and share their data confidently with a wider audience. We then categorized these features into five stages that represent the user flow, namely (1) Bootstrapping Research Studies, (2) Ensuring Consent, (3) Gathering Data, (4) Managing Data Sets, and (5) Supporting Open Research and Collaboration. Our aim is to guide forthcoming research and developments to relieve researchers of the burdens of conducting data-sensitive experiments, support the adoption of best practices, and pave the way for open data policies in digital education.