Learning Analytics – getting a picture of student engagement and performance

 

Learning Analytics (LAs) is a rapidly growing area in formal education that is worth paying attention to because of its rising prevalence and its power to help both students and teachers maximise course performance. The University of Brighton is expanding its successful learning analytics pilot. Here’s a quick overview for you:

What are Learning Analytics?

LAs piece together separate streams of information on learners’ activities to paint an overall picture of engagement with, and progress through, a taught course. This information is presented digitally (usually via a dashboard) in a meaningful way to help students assess where they are on the course (often in comparison to cohort averages) and to help teachers monitor their students’ engagement and the effectiveness of teaching interventions.

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Padlet – a digital pinboard to foster collaboration and contribution

How often do you gather helpful points during a teaching session using a flip chart or whiteboard or sticky notes? They’re great but it would be even better if you could keep a lasting electronic record (without having to take a photo of the board!) or allow participants to continue adding to the discussion after the classroom session (without having to come back to the room!). This is what Padlet offers.

What is it?

Padlet is a ‘digital pinboard’, a website that offers a customisable blank page on which participants can post content – text, thoughts, comments, responses, photos, weblinks, video. To set up a Padlet, you simply create an account, create a board, customise its settings, share the URL with your learners. They go to the address on their computer or mobile device. There’s also a free mobile app.

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Minor update to studentcentral – some new features

Studentcentral had a minor upgrade recently giving some new features for the 2017/18 academic year. These are the headline changes:

  • Drag and drop files – when uploading files (e.g. docs, slides), you can drag an drop them to save having to navigate through your file directory
  • Submission receipts for studentcentral assignments – when students submit assignments using the Blackboard assignment tool (different to Turnitin), they now receive digital receipts of proof of submission
  • Photo class lists for your modules – The eLearning Team have built a new tool that shows the students’ photos (as on the Student Record System). It can only be seen by staff.
  • Mobile Apps – there are two new mobile apps that replace the former Blackboard Mobile Learn app:
    • Blackboard App (iOS Android) – for students to browse content, check grades, view announcements, and participate in discussion boards
    • Blackboard Instructor (iOS Android) – for staff to browse content, check grades, send announcements, and participate in discussion boards. More features will be coming soon apparently.

Full details are given in this post by the University of Brighton eLearning team:
Studentcentral: upgraded!