Understanding Collaboration in Virtual Labs: A Learning Analytics Framework Development

Online education is increasing and progress within technology has inspired the development of virtual laboratories, which allow students to conduct experiments online. One of the main challenges of virtual laboratory environments is facilitating collaboration similar to that existing in physical laboratory settings. This research explores how learning analytics can be used to obtain a better understanding of collaboration in virtual labs and provide insights into facilitating the collaboration and lab work. These insights can make it easier for students to reflect on their own performances and thereafter improve from it, as well as supporting instructors to reflect on their teaching methods and provide assistance to students in need. We introduce a learning analytics framework that supports the use of learning analytics to understand collaboration in virtual labs. This conceptual framework was developed through an iterative process with expert evaluations providing input for improvements. The experts had an overall opinion that the framework was understandable and well-presented. The paper concludes by identifying opportunities for future work, which includes putting the framework into practice.