Complex Thinking Competence Development: the OpenEdR4C Platform as a Data Source through Learning Analytics

Complex thinking development deters social, environmental, and economic development within the global communities. The open educational platform OpenEdR4C is a resource for lifelong learners and higher education students to promote the development of Complex Thinking through content on social, scientific, and technological entrepreneurship. Its purpose is to offer self-paced courses that provide the tools and concepts that will facilitate understanding the process of creating an entrepreneurial project. The objective of this study is to validate the collected data from the platform through the application of Learning Analytics according to research necessities regarding complex thinking development. This is a fundamental part of the design and product validation process of a Platform as a Service (PaaS). Through a cleaning and statistical analysis process to identify opportunities for improvement in the data collection from the platform, this study shows relevant findings for the subsequent product development versions. The findings showed that (a) the data collection in the platform still has opportunities for improvement, (b) using an auto-complete system can reduce processing issues, and (c) pop-ups or alert messages on the profile registration process can prevent users from errors. These findings are valuable for establishing guidelines in the design process of an educational PaaS for developers, designers, and educators in the frame of eLearning.