Privacy, Intellectual Freedom, and Learning Analytics

An Open Curriculum for Bridging the Gap Between Professional Values and Professional Practice

Abstract

Academic libraries are increasingly participating in the collection and analysis of student data and engaging with campus learning analytics programs. The intent is to understand how libraries contribute to student experiences, learning, and success and to design effective and efficient programs toward these ends. Our earlier research established that academic library professionals recognize the ethical issues that learning analytics raise, particularly with respect to privacy, and that they need specific training related to these ethical issues in the learning analytics context. Though addressable through continuing education, those findings also pointed to the need to strengthen LIS education to prepare graduates for that work. This poster reports on efforts to adapt a proven-effective continuing education program, Prioritizing Privacy, to the LIS classroom through the development of an Open Education Resource curriculum packet and related student learning assessment resources. The poster will present the curriculum and identified LIS course contexts in which the curriculum might be enacted. Additional information is available on the project website (https://prioritizingprivacy.org).