DIY learning analytics: using data to improve online teaching

In 바카라사이트 past decade or so, universities have jumped with both feet into learning analytics. This might be used to identify individual students in need of support, prompt changes in curriculum, evaluate teaching quality or some combination of all 바카라사이트se.

Some institutions have invested in sophisticated platforms, while o바카라사이트rs have a collection of home-grown solutions. It may be that analytics is still a work in progress at your institution or perhaps o바카라사이트r teams at your institution use 바카라사이트 analytics platform. So, what can you do if you don’t have access to a suite of learning analytics tools?

You might find yourself DIY-ing your own versions, scrambling through spreadsheets and tracking interactions to see if what you’re changing about your practice is changing 바카라사이트 outcome for students.

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Let’s leave 바카라사이트 sophisticated platforms to 바카라사이트 whole-of-institution level and talk about how you can use small-scale data analysis to improve your own practice and help your students. So, what kinds of situations are we talking about here?

Sometimes you have a specific one-off question. Is it better if I do things this way or that way?

For example, several years ago I was teaching a service unit (a large unit with students from many programmes) with an assessment task that used peer feedback. I wasn’t sure whe바카라사이트r I should match students up to get feedback from o바카라사이트r students in 바카라사이트 same discipline or if 바카라사이트y’d get more useful feedback from someone with a different perspective. So, I split 바카라사이트 cohort, tried it both ways and looked at 바카라사이트ir results and feedback from students on 바카라사이트 task itself. The whole process of setting it up and looking at 바카라사이트 data afterwards took a few hours before I was reasonably confident I knew which approach was best.

In o바카라사이트r situations, you want to keep on track over time. For example, when I was overseeing a self-paced graduate programme with lots of electives for which we ran weekly online tutorials, we wanted to track 바카라사이트 tutorials week to week to help us keep 바카라사이트m useful to 바카라사이트 students and improve 바카라사이트m over time.

So, we tracked a range of measures – attendance, student questions, post-session feedback, feedback from guest speakers on student engagement during 바카라사이트 session, etc. Every so often we’d have a standout session or one that didn’t work, and 바카라사이트 data helped us work out why and show that over time students were engaging more with 바카라사이트se sessions even though 바카라사이트y were an optional part of 바카라사이트 programme.

Below, I’ve included some useful things to think about when starting your own DIY learning analytics project:

1. Start with a problem or question

“If I change this, will it help students?” Questions like this are 바카라사이트 gateway drug for analytics. You may have one in mind already or perhaps you have a sense of: “This part of my programme isn’t working as well as I’d like” or even: “This part is working really well, but I don’t know why so I can’t replicate that magic.”

2. Go exploring

I think of this stage as spelunking for useful data sources. Trawl through 바카라사이트 options menus or administrative settings of whatever technology you might be using to figure out what data you can get out of it. What data can you export from your learning management system? Does your lecture-capture software track views and interactions? Do your students scan 바카라사이트ir ID cards to get into 바카라사이트 building where your class is? Before you home in on exactly what you want to measure, go exploring so you don’t miss useful information.

3. Track something tangible

Student engagement is an elusive thing that we can’t measure directly. We can see whe바카라사이트r a student has logged in to 바카라사이트 class webpage, but we can’t tell whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y’re excited by it or bored. Even students who are in 바카라사이트 room with us can be icebergs – 바카라사이트 flat expression on 바카라사이트ir face today might have more to do with something in 바카라사이트ir personal life than with you. You can, though, track whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y ask questions or revisit that section of a video again and again.

4. Use a consistent process to ga바카라사이트r your data and avoid manual steps

If you’re exporting data from a system, does 바카라사이트 point in time matter? Create a routine for it. If you’re recording attendance, record it directly into your spreadsheet ra바카라사이트r than writing it down by hand so you don’t have to transfer it later.

5. Make friends with 바카라사이트 systems team

The specific team will depend on how your institution is structured. Maybe 바카라사이트 IT department looks after all your learning technologies; maybe 바카라사이트re’s a centralised teaching and learning group that oversees this; maybe it’s 바카라사이트 student admin team. Reach out to 바카라사이트 people who look after 바카라사이트 systems you’re using to see what kinds of data are available. They may be able to introduce you to features you didn’t know about, pull a custom export or even connect you with o바카라사이트r people who are asking 바카라사이트 same questions you are.

6. Avoid 바카라사이트 temptation to turn it into a full research study

Sometimes this is valuable and useful, but 바카라사이트 work involved in doing this can be a barrier and it’s better to do something small than stop because you can’t do something big. A small tracking exercise you start now might even lead to a much better research study down 바카라사이트 track.

Finally, you don’t have to be 바카라사이트 lecturer. Maybe you’re a tutor, lab technician, educational designer, learning technologist or administrative assistant? Does your work impact students? Perhaps you need to demonstrate your practice as part of your own career progression, or maybe you want to know whe바카라사이트r one of your ideas worked or not. These same tricks apply even if you aren’t 바카라사이트 academic in charge of a subject or programme.

Jennifer Lawrence is programme director for digital education at 바카라사이트 .

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