  Learning analytics have been argued as a key enabler to improving student
learning at scale. Yet, despite considerable efforts by the learning analytics
community across the world over the past decade, the evidence to support that
claim is hitherto scarce, as is the demand from educators to adopt it into
their practice. We introduce the concept of practicable learning analytics to
illuminate what learning analytics may look like from the perspective of
practice, and how this practice can be incorporated in learning analytics
designs so as to make them more attractive for practitioners. As a framework
for systematic analysis of the practice in which learning analytics tools and
methods are to be employed, we use the concept of Information Systems Artifact
(ISA) which comprises three interrelated subsystems: the informational, the
social and the technological artefacts. The ISA approach entails systemic
thinking which is necessary for discussing data-driven decision making in the
context of educational systems, practices, and situations. The ten chapters in
this book are presented and reflected upon from the ISA perspective, clarifying
that detailed attention to the social artefact is critical to the design of
practicable learning analytics.
