Learning Analytics with Google Classroom: Exploring the possibilities

Abstract

Google Classroom (GC) is gaining momentum in the educational milieu, but its functionalities are limited. Learning analytics applications integrated with GC can help to face these limitations, but to reach this aim, developers need access to the data generated by GC’s users. This paper reports on the results of an analysis of the existing alternatives to collect data from GC. The study is based on the analysis of the documentation provided by the involved tools. The analysis shows that GC’s API is a potential source of data about the activity of the users in GC-enabled settings, but that the information it provides is limited. Further work is needed to explore if Chrome OS synchronization functions can deliver more detailed information about GC usage, thus enabling for more advanced learning analytics applications.