Shaun Kellogg, outgoing senior director at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, recently represented the Learning Analytics and Data Science (LEADS) team at the Friday Institute through participation in two sessions at the 15th International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge (LAK25), held March 3-7, 2025, in Dublin, Ireland. These sessions showcased the team’s dedication to collaborative, data-intensive research and commitment to building analytical capacity among educational scholars and practitioners. Kellogg ends his tenure at the Friday Institute at the end of this month to begin his new role at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) leading the Office of Research and Promising Practices.
Workshop on Foundational Ideas and Advanced Methods in Quantitative Ethnography
On March 3, Kellogg co-facilitated an immersive full-day workshop titled Foundational Ideas and Advanced Methods in Quantitative Ethnography (QE). The session provided participants with a deep dive into the theoretical underpinnings and advanced methodologies associated with QE, which addresses challenges in analyzing large-scale qualitative data by combining qualitative richness with statistical rigor. Attendees engaged directly with innovative analytical tools, including the Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) web tool and advanced BERT-topic modeling techniques, enhancing their capabilities in integrating QE into their research frameworks. The workshop also emphasized practical, hands-on experiences, equipping researchers and practitioners to leverage quantitative ethnography effectively within their educational research and practice.
Leveraging Learning Analytics to Support North Carolina’s Advanced Teaching Roles Program
On March 6, Kellogg presented preliminary findings from an ongoing collaboration between the Friday Institute, NC State College of Education, Basis Policy Research and the NCDPI. His presentation, Leveraging Learning Analytics to Support North Carolina’s Teacher Compensation and Advanced Teaching Roles Program, highlighted past evaluation efforts and applications of learning analytics, including the use of ENA and machine learning to understand and improve the selection and evaluation of Advanced Teachers. This promising program provides highly effective teachers additional compensation to extend their impact either through teaching larger student groups or by leading and coaching small teams of educators.
This presentation includes findings from the Friday Institute’s recent ATR evaluation report and a large scale mixed-methods study, which integrates traditional qualitative and quantitative methods alongside approaches drawn from the field of learning analytics, including data dashboards, epistemic network analysis and machine learning. Kellogg’s presentation provided valuable insights into how these analytics-driven strategies can complement more traditional methods in understanding and refining the ATR program, aiming ultimately to improve outcomes for both students and educators.
“It is truly exciting to share how our team’s commitment to data-intensive collaborative research directly informs and supports educational innovation in North Carolina and beyond,” said Kellogg. “I’m excited to bring this expertise to my new role leading the Office of Research and Promising Practices at the NCDPI and look forward to empowering educators across the state with the analytical insights, tools and knowledge they need to drive meaningful improvements in teaching and learning.”
Kellogg’s contributions at LAK25 underscore the significant impact of learning analytics in educational research and practice, highlighting the Friday Institute’s role at the forefront of educational innovation and collaboration.
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