Although I have a long way to go in improving my internet searching skills, I spent a little time poking around to see what has been written about using web analytics in online education. I struggled to find "articles" but found proof that someone is doing it--maybe. A job posting for a Campaign and Web Analytics Senior Manager for Kaplan University included the following description as part of the job responsibilities:
Conducting a myriad of web metric analysis from visitor segmentation to funnel conversions to search analyses using Unica NetInsight software and Google Analytics on Kaplan web portal and the KU site.
Design, oversee and conduct in-depth analysis on prospects/lead, current student and general population. Metrics will include conversion, start rate, retention, graduation, advocacy, etc.
Analyses will be examined by campaign, school, degree type, media and various other demographics. From what I read, Kaplan provides online courses and degrees to please all walks of life in the online learning population. I still couldn't quite tell if this position included using analytics to determine course effectiveness or if it, like most other references to web analytics and education, was primarily about MARKETING the education that was offered. Most other references seemed to be about educating students about web analytics. It looks like most institutions of higher education have been concerned with web analytics in regards to increasing their student body rather than increasing student learning.
