This session explains how to utilize the data in an LMS’s course analytics to both guide instructional development and to provide guidance to students in how to be successful in online courses. Participants will be able to utilize course analysis to determine correlations between student activity and student course success.
The presentation will provide a short introduction to explain the content of the online instructional environment in which the student engagement issues exist and the university’s technology content as it migrated from D2L to Canvas.
The first area to be discussed will be the utilization of the student activity by date data from Canvas along with correlating the data with student achievement within the course. Particularly looking for trends in the student data that trend towards student success. The presenters will discuss how those trends are shared with students to encourage successful student behavior.
The next area will be the data related to student page views and time on the course site. I will present not only the correlations related to student success but the potential limitations of some of this data given the current state of learning management system technology.
Determining the impact of engaging students with third-party tools integrated into the learning management system is the third portion of the presentation. A short summary of some simple but effective third-party tools will be presented. The impact of using such tools on student engagement will be discussed.
Reviewing the transcripts of discussion boards within the courseware will be the last facet of analytics to be presented. The presentation will cover how instructors set up the discussion boards to facilitate student engagement and use the data to assess the effectiveness. For instance, the importance of sharing of the rationale/purpose of discussion boards with students along with discussion board guidelines and the use of concise rubrics. Further, the transcripts can be reviewed not only for student responses but also instructor responses to student posts, which can then be used to determine the impact on student engagement. Finally, the impact of engagement of allowing student choice and peer review within the context of the discussion board activities. Strategies for sharing participation methods for success will be included.
The presentation will conclude by sharing access to resources for additional review of the data and sample materials presented to students to improve engagement and student success.