Abstract: Learning analytics has become the focus in education application of big data. In this paper, We analyzed the core step of learning analytics from technological angle, summarized the main instruments of learning analytics, and with examples respectively from different users including constructors, administrators, and tutors, demonstrated the application process of learning analytics. To analyze the access frequency of course module, know the impact on students’ login times from different teaching groups, describe the students’ classification characteristics and find out the implicit inherent rule, this study took the learning behavioral data of certain course platform as the research sample, used some research methods including statistical analysis, visualizing, clustering, association rules mining, etc, and also some instruments such as Excel, SPSS, and Weka, etc. This study shows that the application of learning analytics can fully demonstrate the value of big data, with which we have an important basis of teaching intervention and implementation decisions.

Key words: big data, learning analytics, statistical analysis, clustering, association rules mining