Learning diaries and learning analytics, tools that can be integrated to understand study processes? Difficulty ratings and online activity tracking

The aim of this research was to analyze the contribution that a self-observation tool (the diary) can offer in a Blended University course with university students. A group of 67 university students observed their listening, reading and study behaviors by recording it in a lecture diary. These behaviors were also tracked and recorded as Log data by the Learning Management System used (Moodle). The research questions we tried to answer were about: a) the ability of students to judge the difficulty of the teaching material and to regulate their behavior on this judgment, assuming that a growth in the judgment of difficulty (indicated through the diary) should have corresponded to an increase in the number of performed activities (recorded via the logs); furthermore: b) they concern the possibility of relating effort to performance, assuming that an increase of the number of activities (recorded by log and declared through the diary) would have improved memory and learning. The main factor underlying the research can be defined as the consistency between student judgments and data obtained from the tracking of logs. Finally: c) we considered the relationship between profit and participation in presence or at a distance. Cues from self-observation and automatic recording of behaviors were then compared. The hypothesis was only partially confirmed by the results obtained. The ability to evaluate the different effort required by the proposed teaching material was problematic. The information contribution that can be obtained from the proposed tool for self-observation, the diary, is also under discussion, although it is useful in order to involve the end user in the evaluation and self-regulation process.