Chapter 7: Learning Analytics Ecosystem Could be Fostered by institutional Review Board Reform

Learning analytics seek to evaluate how people learn and the environments in which learning occurs. Institutional review boards (IRBs) are required by the Code of Federal Regulations as overseers of research at federally funded institutions that involve human subjects. In furtherance of this purpose, IRBs evaluate and approve research proposals by using, at a minimum, the following three factors: risk benefit analysis to determine whether research proposals subject human test participants to physical and/or psychological harm; whether participants are informed and consent to participate voluntarily; and whether processes are in place to keep participants safe and secure.

The intersection of these IRBs and research on education is an interesting and developing area. Especially when evaluating privacy and information security protections in the context of emerging technological solutions, IRBs face a changing landscape with which they may not be familiar.

This chapter will delve into the current state of IRBs and the challenges that they face when fulfilling their role in terms of the three factors listed above. In addition, this chapter will detail the changing circumstances and challenges that IRBs face. Finally, recommendations are presented on how to best handle and perform to overcome said challenges. The recommendations will focus on affecting policy, improving the process IRBs use to evaluate research proposals, and creating a discipline within the field of learning analytics that builds upon itself and is preserved for future use.