If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again!

At our faculty we have a lot of talented #postdoctoral researchers working with us on a variety of different projects. Rogers Kaliisa is one of them. Kaliisa recently won the Best Full Paper Award at the 14th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference, organized by Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) . We congratulate him on this wonderful achievement – he is truly a great example of the fact that hard work and perseverance pays off in the end??

Can you tell us more about the paper?

The paper investigates the impact of #learning #analytics dashboards on students’ learning outcomes. The main conclusion is that there is no evidence that learning analytics dashboards affect students’ learning. Existing studies report negligible and small effect sizes and limited evidence from well-powered controlled experiments. To advance the field of learning analytics I, and the other members of the TeamLearn project, advocate for rigorous assessment methods and establishing clear standards for evaluating learning constructs. The TeamLearn Project use multimodal analytics to train and support students in professional fields (e.g., nursing, legal education) in collaborative problem solving??

How does it feel to have won the price for best paper?

As an early career researcher, I feel honored to win an award at the most influential and biggest conference in the field of learning analytics. The award has opened doors for more collaborations and strengthened my connection to the learning analytics community worldwide, which is great for my career.

Winning this award validates the hard work and dedication that went into our research. It signifies that our work has made a notable contribution to the field of learning analytics, as recognized by experts and peers in the field. It is truly motivating to have our efforts recognized in such a prestigious forum, and it motivates us to continue such work with even greater commitment.

Can you tell us anything about your journey leading up to this victory?

Prior to winning this award, I had submitted a total of four papers to the International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge facing four rejections. Despite these setbacks, I continued to refine my research and deepen my understanding of learning analytics research. This perseverance paid off when my fifth submission was not only accepted but also received a nomination and later won the prestigious full best paper award ??

What made you interested in learning analytics as a research field to begin with?

I first learned about learning analytics as a master’s student at the University of Adelaide in Australia. After working as a research assistant on a learning analytics project, I was exposed to the literature, and I felt this was an interesting area to pursue a research career given its potential to improve teaching and learning??

What does your workday as a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Educational Sciences look like? And why did you choose to conduct your research here?

My days usually consist of meetings with fellow researchers, teaching and interacting with my students, and connecting with international collaborators. I have been associated with the faculty for six years now, first as a PhD-student and now as a postdoctoral researcher. I chose this faculty because it is one of the highest ranked faculties in Education in Europe and the world at large. I thank the faculty and the University of Oslo ( Universitetet i Oslo (UiO) ) for giving me the opportunity to conduct my research and grow my academic career!

We congratulate you again on this amazing achievement! Do you have any plans for the future?

My primary goal is to continue exploring research in learning analytics. I also dream of fostering learning analytics research at the Faculty of Educational Sciences and creating stronger collaborations in the Global South and North to develop the use of learning analytics at all levels and contexts to foster learning.