Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Who benefits from learning analytics?
Learning analytics can benefit a variety of different stakeholders. These include:
- Students: by providing more personalised and timely support to students who are either at risk or not engaging with their course. This can help students to progress and succeed in their studies.
- Support Staff: by providing more data and a greater idea of how a student is engaging with their course. This can help to plan more effective and personalised interventions. Having multiple sources of information in the same system can also help to save time when assessing a student’s overall engagement.
- Teachers: by providing analytics about how students are engaging with the content on the modules they teach on. This can help to plan more effective and personalised interventions.
- Department heads: by providing an overview of how many students within a department are engaging with their course and how many are flagged as at risk. This can help to identify areas of concern so that improvements can be implemented.
What is a student "intervention"?
An “intervention” refers to timely and tailored support offered to individual students or groups of students flagged by the learning analytics system as being at risk of not progressing. Interventions ensure that students receive appropriate learning support in a sympathetic, non-punitive way.
- For individual students, an intervention could mean a tutor or engagement officer checking in to offer advice and support.
- For groups of students (e.g. members of the same class on a module or programme), an intervention could mean a lecturer reaching out to make sure everyone understands a key topic and, if not, organising extra tutorials and/or uploading extra resources on Moodle to support students’ learning.
What learning analytics system does City use?
City is currently using Jisc’s Data Explorer (DataX) learning analytics system. DataX uses a RAG traffic light system to rate students’ engagement at module and course-level as red, amber, or green. Student engagement is calculated using data from City’s virtual learning environment (VLE) and grade systems.
What data sources does City's learning analytics system use?
As of September 2022, the DataX learning analytics system will use:
- Assessment data (taken from SITS, City’s student records system)
- Virtual learning environment (VLE) data (drawn from Moodle module clicks)
- Attendance data (taken from the Count Me In/SEAtS attendance monitoring system)
The LeAP team are investigating the pros and cons of integrating other student engagement data sources into DataX. These include lecture capture (Echo360), Turnitin, reading lists, library (Sierra), Teams, Zoom, OneDrive, Sharepoint, and Outlook.
How often is the data in City's learning analytics system refreshed?
The virtual engagement data within Moodle feeds into the DataX learning analytics system live and updates every minute. The assessment data in SITS updates overnight and can be seen in the system the next day.
Who has access to City's learning analytics system?
There are three levels of access permitted on the system. These are:
- Admin access – held by central administration staff and the system administration team. These people are likely to be in LEaD, IT, Student Experience, and Academic Services.
- Site Explorer access – held by members of staff authorised by the systems administration team. Depending on the School, certain members of staff such as Head of Academic Services, Student Engagement Officers, Attendance Officers may request access.
- Tutor access – held by anyone listed on the Student Records System (SITS) as a personal tutor, module leader or module teacher. This access is automatic.
For further information around access please speak to the Head of Academic Services in your school.
Where can I request support and/or training to guide my use of learning analytics?
You can request support and/or training by emailing Ethan Henry (LeAP's project lead).