Brendan Flanagan

Brendan Flanagan is an Associate Professor at the Center for Innovative Research and Education in Data Science, Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Informatics at Kyoto University. His research interests include: Learning Analytics, Educational Data Science, Educational Data Mining, NLP/Text Mining, Machine Learning, Computer Assisted Language Learning, and the Application of Blockchain in Education. He is currently the Principle Investigator on two research projects that investigate knowledge and learning process analysis (JSPS Scientific Research B and Exploratory) and also work as part of a NEDO funded large research project into educational symbiotic AI systems.

From 2017 to 2022 he was a Senior Lecturer at the Academic Center for Computing and Media Studies(ACCMS), and Department of Social informatics in the Graduate School of Informatics at Kyoto University. While a Ph.D student in Kyushu University, Japan, he was involved in the application of information retrieval and machine learning techniques to support foreign language learning. The research gained attention of key researches in Japan and within the international community and collaborated on the development of the Japanese EFL attainment framework CEFR-J. During this time he was also a Research Fellow at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and was invited to present his work at symposiums and conducted research as a visiting scholar Cambridge University.

See the about me page for more information on my background, or check out the publications page to see my current and past research results.

News

I have been granted funding as the principal investigator for a new research project titled: “Extraction and Use of Highly Explainable and Transferable Indicators for AI in Education”, JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (18,850,000円課題番号：23H01001)
I have been granted funding as the principal investigator for a new research project titled: “Learning Support by Novel Modality Process Analysis of Educational Big Data”, JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Exploratory) (6,370,000円課題番号21K19824)
Prof H. Ulrich Hoppe gave a very informative presentation titled “Beyond dashboards – Learning Analytics architectures, techniques and applications” as a part of the APSCE LAEDM SIG. If you missed the registration deadline or weren’t able to make it, a recording is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq4dUucqKpM
I’m an organizing a workshop at LAK21 this year with a new data challenge focusing on K-12 reading behavior: The 3nd Workshop on Predicting Performance Based on the Analysis of Reading Behavior. The workshop will be held online this time to avoid the disappointment that occurred last year when it was suddenly canceled due to COVID-19! If you are interested please follow the link above to the CFP!
I have been granted funding as a co-PI for a new NEDO research project titled: 「学習者の自己説明とAIの説明生成の共進化による教育学習支援環境EXAITの研究開発」(Title in English: “Research and development of an education and learning support environment EXAIT by co-evolution of learner’s self-explanation and AI explanation generation”, NEDO人と共に進化する次世代人工知能に関する技術開発事業, link to press release in Japanese)
I have been granted funding as the principal investigator for a new research project titled: “Knowledge-Aware Learning Analytics Infrastructure to Support Smart Education and Learning”, JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (17,940,000円課題番号20H01722)
This year I am the PC executive chair for the track on Advanced Learning Technologies (ALT), Learning Analytics and Digital Infrastructure at ICCE2020 in Darwin, Australia. Please see the Track C3 CFP for more information on submissions.
Unfortunately, due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19, the organizing committee has decided to cancel this year’s LA-Asia 20 conference. I hope that we will be able to hold it in the future (maybe in 2021?). Will keep you posted as I find out. ~~I’m helping organize a new international conference as a program co-chair: International Conference on Learning Analytics in Asia (LA-Asia20).~~
Unfortunately, due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19, the organizing committee has decided to cancel most of the workshops at LAK20 as the main conference goes online. I’m an organizing a workshop at LAK20 this year: The 2nd Workshop on Predicting Performance Based on the Analysis of Reading Behavior. ~~If you are interested please follow the link above to the CFP!~~
I organized LA@ICCE2019: 6th ICCE workshop on Learning Analytics (LA) – Scaling Up Evidence-based Institutional LA Practices – it was held in Kenting, Taiwan on December 2nd at ICCE2019.
I organized DC@LAK19: Predicting Performance Based on the Analysis of Reading Behavior: A Data Challenge – it was held in Tempe, USA on March 4th or 5th, 2019.