Web Analytics

Web analytics is the practice of measuring, collecting, analyzing and reporting on Internet data for the purposes of understanding how a web site is used by its audience and how to optimize its usage. So, web analytics is the study of visitor, navigation, and traffic patterns to determine the success of a given web site. It doesn’t only focus on the amount of traffic, but it focuses on in-depth comparison of available visitor data, referral data, and site navigation patterns as well as being able to tell us the amount of traffic we receive over any specified period of time.

As our ultimate goal is to use any kind of technology for educational purposes, especially language learning, I think that web analytics can be used as a practical tool in analyzing and improving students’ learning process. Moreover, the teacher/instructor can use this technological tool for learners’ ongoing evaluation and their progress. The teacher can easily see how many times the learners spend in this or that site and how much they explore it. Besides, it gives a chance to notice those students who are at risk of failing their courses, thus further steps can be undertaken in advance.

So, today the role of web analytics continue to grow and it has become a critical tool not only for measuring and optimizing web usage, but also for improving and assessing students’ learning process.