Today’s Friday Focus on e-Learning was a replay of a a session from the 18th annual Sloan Consortium Conference on Online Learning held in October 2012. The presenter was John Vivolo, Manager of Online Learning, Polytechnic Institute of New York University.
Most learning management systems (LMSs) can generate numbers that can be placed in spreadsheets to proactively make alterations in the course (as the course is taking place).
Reactive – make changes to a course AFTER poor student performance on an assignment/exam. Student evaluations are an example of reactive. Academic department evaluations are also typically reactive (done at end of semester).
Proactive – set up preventive measures prior to an assignment/exam. Time-based, Individual assignments/content, Discussion boards.
Interaction: student-student, student-faculty, student activities.
1. Time-based activity – days of the week, times of day, days of month. Can influence improvements in content availability, assignment due dates, virtual office hours, etc… When are students going in and doing activities in the course?
What is your goal?
- To accommodate student schedules? To reach the class at peak activity? Solution: Make content available at the peak of activity or right beforehand.
- To create an equal distribution of activity through the week? Solution: Make content available at the lowest point of activity. Global solution: Create an “Interaction policy” (proactive). This policy would refer to student & faculty interactions, as well as when students are expected to go in to get various items from the course (or complete specific activities).
2. Individual Assignments/Content: Hits – track how often students view a content item. Goal: Avoid a wait and see approach.
How to use the numbers of how many times students clicked on a podcast? If they are clicking on it a lot (far more than the # of students in the class) then it could indicate that they are having trouble with the content (don’t understand content).
If they’re clicking on content a LOT, then before moving on (or before the next exam) provide:
- discussion board Q& A
- create a review sheet
- host a review webinar
- create a non-graded quiz
If one student seems to be accessing the content over and above others, reach out to that specific student to see if s/he has questions.
3. Discussion boards – the most commonly used interactive tool. Purpose: simulate an in-class discussion but in an asynchronous method.
Common discussion board goal – create a discussion that remains a fluid conversation over the week.
Can create discussion board interaction policy – respond to initial question, post at least once before X day, may have more than one topic or thread, etc…
Alerts can be set in Blackboard:
- attendance alerts – students/faculty don’t access course in X amount of time
- assignment/content alerts – student does not access content or assignment
- due date alerts – student has not submitted assignment (before/after) due date
Managers/Directors
- can use analytics for online faculty oversight
- data can be collected for faculty – are they interaction; what and how are they interacting
Q&A at end of session:
- Do faculty feed the analytics back to the students – “this is what I’m seeing” – Presenter recommends NOT to feed the analytics back to the students. He believes students will feel as if they are being watched.
- Who runs the analytics reports? The Manager of Online Learning runs them, distributes to faculty, and then faculty do what they will with the information.
- Is the Interaction Policy something that is set centrally (overall), by college or department or faculty? It’s variable.
How do YOU use analytics to assess performance and/or adjust your courses?
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