The challenge of generating meaningful participation data: a critical examination of metrics, meaning, and power in higher education
本文批判性审视了高等教育中参与数据（如出勤记录、在线活动痕迹）的局限性，指出其常因概念模糊、技术限制和制度偏见而只捕捉到学习活动的狭窄部分，并提出了更透明、情境敏感的数据设计路径。
Participation data, such as attendance records, online activity traces, and engagement analytics, have become increasingly central to teaching, student support, and institutional accountability across global higher education systems. Yet producing participation data that meaningfully reflects student engagement remains challenging. This paper examines why such data often captures only a narrow slice of learning activity, shaped by conceptual ambiguity, the technical limitations of data-collection systems, and the institutional priorities embedded in its design. While participation metrics can play a valuable role in identifying students who may need support and demonstrating institutional responsibility, it may also overlook significant forms of learning that occur outside monitored platforms or vary across cultural, personal, and disciplinary contexts. Drawing on contemporary research from learning analytics, data studies, and critical pedagogical perspectives, the paper argues for more transparent, context-sensitive, and ethically grounded approaches to defining and interpreting participation. It proposes participatory data design, hybrid measurement methods, and reflexive institutional practices as pathways toward generating participation data that better aligns with the complexities of student engagement. The paper contributes a balanced, theoretically informed analysis of participation data as a sociotechnical construct with both potential benefits and limitations for higher education.