Jisc presentation for ALT-C on the Learning Analytics Student App

1. Engaging students in developing a
learning analytics app

2. Student Learning Analytics App 2
“learning analytics is the measurement,
collection, analysis and reporting of data
about learners and their contexts, for
purposes of understanding and optimising
learning and the environments in which it
occurs”
SoLAR – Society for Learning Analytics Research

3. Workshop Outline
 Jisc Learning Analytics Project Overview
 Student Participation in the design process –
what they wanted
 Specification for a learning analytics app – what
we did
 Group activity – what you think
 Plenary
Student Learning Analytics App 3
http://analytics.jiscinvolve.org/wp/

4. Student Learning Analytics App 4
It operates shared digital
infrastructure and services,
negotiates sector-wide deals
with IT vendors and commercial
publishers, and provides trusted
advice and practical assistance
for universities and colleges.
Jisc is the UK higher and
further education sectors’
not-for-profit
organisation for digital
service and solutions.
About Jisc…

5. Student Learning Analytics App 5
About Learning Analytics…

6. What do we mean by Learning Analytics?
The application of big data techniques such as
machine based learning and data mining to help
learners and institutions meet their goals:
For our project:
»Improve retention (current project)
»Improve achievement (current project)
»Improve employability (current project)
»Personalised learning (future project)
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7. Jisc’s Learning Analytics Project
Student Learning Analytics App 7
Three core strands
Learning
Analytics Service
Toolkit Community
Jisc Learning Analytics

8. Student Learning Analytics App 8

9. Student Learning Analytics App 9

10. Student Participation –What they want
Student Learning Analytics App 10
http://analytics.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2015/04/29/what-do-students-want-
from-a-learning-analytics-app/

11. Student Learning Analytics App 11
Focus on assessment – how well
am I doing compared with others

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Summary of all grades and predictions of
what is required to be “successful”

13. Student Learning Analytics App 13
How are you spending your time – what
should you be doing more or less?

14. A prioritised SHORT list…
My assessments
See the grades obtained, rank against
other students, assignments are due,
grades in assignments in order to obtain
particular degree classifications?
My engagement
Lecture attendance; campus visits;
Library engagement;VLE engagement
My reading lists
How much am I engaging with the
reading list on each of my modules?
Check-in to event
Details of all lectures (or
tutorials/seminars/labs) and notifies me
if the lecture has been cancelled.
Student Learning Analytics App 14
Find a study buddy
Enter interests, skills to offer/share
shows me others who can help or want
to share
Extra events
Made aware of relevant events that I
might want to attend
How am I feeling?
Confident; confused; upset; happy
My consent
I can decide what’s done with my data.

15. Activity 1- Principles
On each table:
Principles of the learning analytics app (First Release)
Questions to discuss
Feedback on the principles
Student Learning Analytics App 15

16. Student app - what we are doing
Principles
Comparative – seeing how you compare with class averages or the top 20% of performers for example may
provide a competitive element or at least a reality check, driving you to increased engagement.
Social – being able to select “friends” with whom to compare your stats may add another level of
engagement.
Gamified – an app which includes an element of gaming should encourage uptake by some students.This
may be manifested in the use of badges such as a “Library Master” badge for students who have attended the
library five times.
Private by default – while data that the institution knows about you from other systems may be fed to the
app, the privacy of any information you input in the app yourself will be protected. However anonymous
usage information may be fed back to the app backend.
Usable standalone – by students whose institutions are not using the Jisc architecture.
Uncluttered – the app should concentrate for the time being on learning analytics data and not be bloated
with functionality which replicates what is already present in theVLE/LMS or in other applications.
Student Learning Analytics App 16
See http://analytics.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2015/08/21/student-app-for-
learning-analytics-functionality-and-wireframes/

17. Student Learning Analytics App 17
When first logging in the student
is able to select their institution
from a pre-populated lists of UK
universities. If the students’
institution is using other parts of
Jisc’s learning analytics
architecture, in particular the
learning analytics warehouse,
then much more data will be
available to the app.

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The screen will be an activity
feed or timeline, we plan to
integrate this dynamic and
engaging concept, so essential to
applications such asTwitter and
Facebook.
Photos or badges could be
included next to the text.

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Stats – Provides an engagement
and attainment overview and
drilling down to gives
comparative activity graphs.
Log – Allows you to log time
spent on specified activities e.g.
reading for an assignment
Target – Allows you set personal
targets to improve your
engagement e.g. study for 10
hours this week

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The engagement and
attainment overview mirrors
what many fitness apps do: it
provides an overview of your
“performance” to date. Critically
here we show how you compare to
others.This will be based on data
about you and others held in the
learning analytics warehouse.

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In the activity comparison screen
you’ll see a graph of your
engagement over time and how it
compares with that of others.You
can select a particular module or
look at your whole course.
You can compare yourself with
people on my course, people on
this module and top 20% of
performers (based on grades).
Comparing yourself to prior
cohorts of students on a module
might be of interest in the future
too.

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Starting an activity allows you to
select the module on which
you’re working, choose an
activity type from a drop-down
list such as reading a book, writing
an essay, or attending a lab, and
select a time period you want to
spend on the activity and whether
you want a notification when that
period is up.
A timer is displayed in the image
box and you can hit the Stop
button when you’ve finished. The
timer will continue even if you
navigate away from the app.

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Setting a target is the final bit of
functionality we want to include
in the app at this stage. Again this
is building on the success of
fitness tracking apps where you
set yourself targets as a way of
motivating yourself.

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Setting a target involves
selecting a learning activity from
a pre-populated list and
specifying how long you want to
be spending on it.
We added a “because” free text
box so that learners can make it
clear (to themselves) why they
want to carry out the activity e.g.
I want to pass the exam, tutor told
me I’m not reading enough).
Users may be more likely to select
a reason from a pre-populated list
than to fill in a text field but we’ll
monitor this to see whether it’s
being used.

25. Timetable
 Final Specification October 2015
 Development and user testing October 2015 to March 2016 (to engage
with the project see http://analytics.jiscbetas.net/expression)
 First release April 2016 – smart phone only
 Trial use April – September 2016
 Second release – September 2016
Student Learning Analytics App 25

26. Activity 2 & 3 - what you think
On each table:
1. Principles of the learning analytics app (First Release)
2. Outline requirements from student consultations
3. Wireframes of the first release
Activity 2: Feedback on the wireframes and principles
Activity 3: What three additional features do you think will be useful for students
in the second release?
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Plenary….

28. Contacts
Contacts:
Paul Bailey paul.bailey@jisc.ac.uk
Further Information:
http://www.analytics.jiscinvolve.org
Join:
analytics@jiscmail.ac.uk
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Activity 1: Feedback on the principles Activity 2: Feedback on the wireframes
Activity 3:Three features students should have in the second release
1.
2.
3.

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Login and select your
institutions, access data
from learning records
warehouse.
View your activity feed
and how you are doing
and what your
colleagues and friends
are doing.
View your engagement
and attainment
overview to see what
you are doing in more
detail

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View activity
comparison graphs of
your engagement over
time compared with
that of others.
Start an activity or view
activities to track and
motivate learning.
Set a activity for a
module e.g. reading,
revising, etc.

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View targets and
review progress of all
you targets.
Set targets for a week,
day, month, etc.
Activity data will be
used to show how you
are progressing against
targets