Digital Footprints (2005-2019): a systematic review of studies in education.

Abstract

Abstract: Digital footprints (DF) offer relevant information about educational activities and processes related to strategies of academic assessment, identification of skills and psychological traits of students, prediction of the actions of the different educational actors, and trends of permanence and dropout, among others. The present study aims to analyze the scientific evidence on the use of DF in the educational field and shows, both the process and the results of a systematic review of literature carried out based on the analysis of documents published in the last fifteen years (2005 -2019) in two databases: Scopus and Web of Science (WoS). Among the most relevant findings of this review, it is found that educational research on DF is focused on learning analytics, the study of digital presence and psychometric modeling. Likewise, the article reports on the scarce investigation of DF in MOOC environments and highlights the multiple meanings of DF as an action and as a service, beyond the generalized conception of data. These findings suggest the importance of preparing educational institutions in general, and educational actors in particular, so that they can implement processes of use and management of their DF in order to favor processes that range from DF curation, to cognitive evaluation, prediction of school success and/or failure, and the identification and attraction of talent, among others.