Jisc: building a business case for learning analytics, keeping student feedback in the loop

Updated Sep 07, 2026

Jisc’s 27 February 2026 article on building a learning-analytics business case focuses on the people, resources and safeguards needed beyond a technical launch. Written by James Hodgkin, Head of Analytics, it concludes a two-part series. Jisc article.

What Jisc recommends

The guidance proposes starting with a defined pilot, collecting staff and student feedback, refining thresholds and workflows, and expanding in phases. It covers role-specific training and transparent communication about data use and support.

Its safeguards include involving student representatives, providing a route to challenge an alert, checking models for bias and false positives, and avoiding excessive notifications. A business case should also account for staff time, implementation, training, ongoing support and the capacity needed when more students are identified for help.

These are recommendations for planning and evaluation. The article’s illustrative financial calculations are assumptions for a business case, not measured outcomes that every institution can expect. Delivery, costs and safeguards sections.

Include feedback on the support itself

Our suggestion is to define the intervention before selecting a success measure. Who reviews an alert, who contacts the student, what support can actually be offered and how will that response be evaluated?

Student feedback can describe whether a contact felt useful, confusing or intrusive. It does not establish why an engagement metric changed, nor prove that an intervention prevented withdrawal. Keep those questions separate when interpreting pilot results.

Agree in advance how staff will record problems, how students can challenge inaccurate information and who will review the model or process. Budget for the work of responding, rather than assuming that identifying a need means it has been met.

For related decisions about qualitative evidence, use the student comment analysis governance checklist. Treat any proposed combination of surveys and learning-analytics data as a project-specific governance decision, with a clear purpose and appropriate permissions.

Review note, 7 September 2026: checked the complete Jisc article and clarified that recommendations, illustrative benefits and our practical interpretation are not demonstrated outcomes or a regulatory mandate.