Designing MMLA systems is a complex task requiring a wide range of considerations. In this paper, we identify key considerations that are essential for designing MMLA systems. These considerations include data management, human factors, sensors and modalities, learning scenarios, privacy and ethics, interpretation and feedback, and data collection. The implications of these considerations are twofold: 1) The need for flexibility in MMLA systems to adapt to different learning contexts and scales, and 2) The need for a researcher-centered approach to designing MMLA systems. Unfortunately, the sheer number of considerations can lead to a state of "analysis paralysis," where deciding where to begin and how to proceed becomes overwhelming. This synthesis paper asks researchers to rethink the design of MMLA systems and aims to provide guidance for developers and practitioners in the field of MMLA.

Smart Learning Environments and Learning Analytics hold promise of providing personalized support to learners according to their individual needs and context. This support can be achieved by collecting and analyzing data from the different learning tools and systems that are involved in the learning experience. This paper presents a first exploration of requirements and considerations for the integration of two systems: MBOX, a Multimodal Learning Analytics system for the physical space (human behavior and learning context), and SCARLETT, an SLE for the support during across-spaces learning situations combining different learning systems. This integration will enable the SLE to have access to a new and wide range of information, notably students’ behavior and social interactions in the physical learning context (e.g. classroom). The integration of multimodal data with the data coming from the digital learning environments will result in a more holistic system, therefore producing learning analytics that trigger personalized feedback and learning resources. Such integration and support is illustrated with a learning scenario that helps to discuss how these analytics can be derived and used for the intervention by the SLE.

Multimodal Learning Analytics (MMLA) provides opportunities for understanding and supporting collaborative problem-solving. However, the implementation of MMLA systems is challenging due to the lack of scalable technologies and limited solutions for collecting data from group work. This paper proposes the Multimodal Box (MBOX), an IoT-based system for MMLA, allowing the collection and processing of multimodal data from collaborative learning tasks. MBOX investigates the development and design for an IoT focusing on small group work in real-world settings. Moreover, MBOX promotes adaptation to different learning environments and enables a better scaling of computational resources used within the learning context.

Dynamic data and continuously evolving sets of records are essential for a wide variety of today’s data management applications. Such applications range from large, social, content-driven Internet applications, to highly focused data processing verticals like data intensive science, telecommunications and intelligence applications. However, the dynamic and multimodal nature of data makes it challenging to transform it into machine-readable and machine-interpretable forms. In this paper, we report on an action research study that we conducted in collaboration with a multinational company in the embedded systems domain. In our study, and in the context of a real-world industrial application of dynamic data management, we provide insights to data science community and research to guide discussions and future research into dynamic data management in embedded systems. Our study identifies the key challenges in the phases of data collection, data storage and data cleaning that can significantly impact the overall performance of the system.