Adopting Web Analytics in Education: Why so S-L-O-W?

In an ongoing hunt for information about the use of Web Analytics (WAs) in education, I’ve looked for answers to the questions from the domain (if,how) x (have,can). If WAs have, if WAs can, how WAs have, how WAs can contribute(d) to the understanding, measuring, and ultimately improving of educational offerings, resources, and experiences on the web. What I’ve found, or rather what I have NOT found, has led me to believe that at this point, there is little evidence that WAs have contributed (in a substantial way) thus far to those goals.
After elimination of the ‘have’ factor, what is left to explore is the ‘can’ factor. It seems only natural that the answer to the ‘if-WAs-can’ question is Yes! In fact, the summarizing statement in an article entitled: A Practical Evaluation of Web Analytics states:

“…it is apparent that the vast majority of work in this area focuses, unsurprisingly, on the business domain, in particular e-commerce. However, we would argue that such approaches could equally be applied to cultural and social settings, where understanding user behaviour has less financial impact but is crucial for the continued success of the social context.”

Though the authors did not specifically mention education by name, it too falls into both the cultural and social context where in understanding user behavior may have less (immediate) financial impact but is crucial in continued (and especially in expanding) success in an educational context. The authors do not, however, address the “how-WAs-can” question. There are several other quotes from that article that are worth-while reading from an educational perspective. However, for me they only highlight another question. This article was written four years ago, in 2004! What progress has been made with web analytics in education since then? Why has the research and early adoption been so slow, if indeed it has moved at all?

Is it funding? Is it because it’s not obvious (from research or actual implementations) that WAs can/will contribute to the “bottom line” of education as it does business? And what IS the “bottom line” of education anyway? Do we agree on this?

Is it accessibility? Is it because there is a much higher demand than supply for ‘experts’ in analytics, and business can make the investment, but education can’t?
Is it technology implementation? Is it because we are only in the first generation of web analytics (the assembly language) that is not yet accessible to educators? Will more adoption come with succeeding generations (authoring languages) of WAs?

Is it political? Have we still not reached consensus about the value and place of web-enabled resources and opportunities in the overall educational picture? Must that battle conclude before WAs in education can move forward? [There is no longer any debate about the impact or necessity of web-enabled business resources and opportunities]

Are educational goals harder to define than business goals? Or are they just harder to define in terms of what is now measured in WAs, instead of what could be measured?

Is it a matter of (excuse the recursion) education? Are there too few educators aware of the concept of WAs in general, much less the possible potential of WAs in education?

Or is it all of these things together, or something else entirely?

And the last and most important question: Which of these roadblocks that slow the adoption of WAs in education can (and will) we help to remove? Read More......