Learning Analytics is about collecting traces that learners leave behind and using those traces to improve learning. It is similar to Analytics and Big Analytics draws techniques from a number of communities with long traditions (including data mining, information visualization, language processing, etc.). Yet, as a field of its own, it is still fairly recent: LAK, the leading conference in the field, is only in its fourth year.
Besides learning analytics, the six articles selected for the issue also embrace assessment in online learning.
The first of the two in-depth articles proposes a “teacher-led design inquiry of learning”. The second one sheds light on the potential cross-benefits that combining Learning Analytics and open linked data research could bring about. The four articles from the field introduce assessment in basic maths, concept mapping for reflection, analysis of the teachers’ learning process, and real-time visualization of discussion activities in a MOOC.
Opportunities for building massive data sets on learner behavior exist as a result of the widespread use of online learning materials, technology platforms and services. A narrow focus of learning analytics concerns itself with improved student retention, but the larger agenda is more related to the personalization of learning, self-regulated learning and the improvement of the overall learning experience. Moreover, a more data driven (or at least verified-by-data-analysis) approach in the learning sciences can help to take advantage of the approaches already well-established in the harder sciences. However, especially in this post-NSA world, privacy and ethical issues need to be taken into account as driving factors rather than as concerns that are only addressed post factum.
Data mining and information visualization can also provide valuable information on the benefits (or lack thereof) of learning technology applications, in order to support decisions in educational policy making. No doubt, Learning Analytics will be one of the hottest topics in learning technology research and development in the near future.

The latest issue of the eLearning Papers has just been published, focusing on Learning Analytics and Assessement. It features two in-depth research articles and four practical reports from the field.

By Sarah Kendzior. In December 2013, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Peter Higgs made a startling announcement. “Today I wouldn't get an academic job,” he told The Guardian. “It's as simple as that. I don't think I would be regarded as productive enough.”
Higgs noted that quantity, not quality, is the metric by which success in the sciences in measured. Unlike in 1964, when he was hired, scientists are now pressured to churn out as many papers as possible in order to retain their jobs. Had he not been nominated for the Nobel, Higgs says, he would have been fired. His scientific discovery was made possible by his era’s relatively lax publishing norms, which left him time to think, dream, and discover. - See more...

By Alan Rauch. As book publishing continues its steady decline, the number of rising scholars who are moving forward—to reappointment, renewal, and promotion—on the strength of peer-reviewed essays, rather than monographs, is trending upward. In fact, peer-reviewed articles are becoming the coin of the academic realm—the capital that effectively "purchases" tenure and promotion for an individual scholar.
Universities are fortunate to have a simple system for counting that capital: tallying scholarly articles, which comes at little or no expense to the institution itself. Let me underscore that. The cost, at least to academic departments, is negligible. See more...

The In Focus section of the magazine includes 10 papers focusing on the theme: Student Tuition Fees – perspectives from around the world.
The magazine also provides further details of the IAU 2014 International Conference, on the theme: Blending Higher Education and Traditional Knowledge for Sustainable Development, to take place in Peru, in March 2014, at the Universidad Cientifica del Peru.
It also includes updates on recent IAU work and projects including for example, the IAU’s workshop on Open Educational Resources that took place in Ghana last September; the IAU- ACUP workshop on Doctoral Education and e supervision, which took place in Spain in October; the IAU Equitable Access and Success Workshop, that took place at the EAN World Congress on Access to post-Secondary Education, in Canada in October; and the IAU capacity building workshop on Internationalization which took place in Malaysia, in November 2013. It lists the new Members of IAU, the Association’s latest publications and a selection of books received at the IAU. Gilles Breton (University of Ottawa, Canada) writes about the book Handbook on Globalization and Higher Education. The magazine concludes with a Calendar of Events.
The next issue (Vol.20 No.1) will report on the outcomes of the IAU 2014 Annual Conference, and focus on MOOCS and OER.

Productions Efigip 
Le tableau de bord Vae 2013
À partir des données 2012, ce document fait le bilan, d’une part, des personnes reçues dans les Prc et d’autre part de l’activité de validation des certificateurs publics.
Il détaille le profil des personnes reçues dans les Prc (âge, sexe, niveau de formation, secteur d’activité, situation professionnelle) ainsi que les certifications délivrées en Franche-Comté (dossiers déposés, recevables, résultats de validations, certifications délivrées). Efigip - Tableau de bord Vae - 2013 (768 Ko). 
Les 10 ans de la Vae - Chiffres clés
Efigip publie les chiffes clés de la Vae depuis la mise en place du dispositif de Vae et des Prc. Il s’agit de données relatives au profil des personnes accueillies en entretien dans les Prc en Vae et des résultats de validation. Cette publication a été réalisée à l’occasion du colloque organisé pour les 10 ans de la Vae.
Efigip - Les chiffres clés de la Vae - 2012 (1,2 Mo). Voir l'article entier....

Le nouveau numéro du magazine du Conseil régional Bourgogne Notre Région vient de paraître. Il est dédié à la formation et à l'emploi.
Télécharger Bourgogne notre Région n°30 décembre 2013.
Dans ce numéro :
    300 formations qualifiantes
    des «parcours singuliers» dans l'industrie et le BTP
    le conseil en évolution professionnelle
    la formation des salariés
    l'apprentissage
    les métiers du social
    ...
et toujours la rubrique «Libre expression».

The Open Access Repository (OAR) is a new collection of over 300 books, reports, and articles freely available online. It was launched by UNESCO under a new open licensing system developed by Creative Commons. 
The OAR currently contains numerous research materials including key reports and publications from UNESCO. The repository includes materials in 12 different languages, and it will continue to grow as the organization adds more past publications. All new UNESCO publicatons will from now on be released under the new open licenses and added to the repository. UNESCO is the first UN agency to adopt an open access policy for its works.
The new licensing system used for the OAR was developed by the Creative Commons in cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization and the UN. It is specifically developed for intergovernmentalorganizations. The creation of the OAR and the use of open licensing will contribute to the goal making more knowledge available and accessible to people all over the world.
Website: UNESCO Open Acess Publications.