Speaker: Linda Hanna, interim head of strategic projects, University of Essex. Rolling out an institution-wide learner analytics system presents many challenges. System and data challenges abound, legal and ethical issues arise, and stakeholder engagement can feel like an uphill struggle. The University of Essex is in the third year of a four-year project to introduce staff and student dashboards across all its departments and is ready to share some insights and experiences. Following a year-long pilot, the Learner Engagement Activity Portal (LEAP) is now being used by staff and students across multiple campuses. Now that student engagement information is at their fingertips, academic staff are being asked to understand and use this data to inform decisions about how to best support students and different models for using student engagement data in academic departments are emerging. This session will give an overview of the Essex project, discuss how some of the many challenges have been overcome and highlight the need for developing the digital skills of academic staff to take advantage of the richer set of student data available via a learner analytics solution.

1. Academics and
Engagement Data -
Learner Analytics in the
Real World
Linda Hanna, University of Essex

2. It’s A Long Story – Back in 2016
• Electronic attendance
monitoring was fairly new
• MyTutor was being rolled out
• GDPR was on the way
• Learner Analytics – what’s that?

3. Question: What is/would be the main reason for
using learner analytics?
•Continuation
•Good degrees
•Student satisfaction
•Predicting outcomes

4. First - Big Decisions
• It’s about supporting students
• It’s a cultural change project
• It needs a dedicated project team
• It needs support at a senior level
• It needs a phased approach
• It’s not a quick fix

5. Next - Timeline
Phase 1
Setup
Phase 2
Pilot
Phase 3
Roll Out and
Development
Phase 4
Transition to BAU
2016/17
2017/18
2018/19
2019/20

6. Question: What do you think has been our biggest
challenge?
1. Getting the data into the dashboards
2. Student engagement
3. Staff engagement
4. GDPR/Data Protection

7. Other Challenges
• Can it do this?
• What does good engagement
look like?
• What’s the impact?
• Can we use it too?
• What’s it called?

8. Finding a Name
Learner
Engagement
Activity
Portal

9. Curious Academics
• How will I find the time?
• What will students think?
• Is it ethical?
• What models are we using to
calculate engagement?

10. New Approach, New Data

11. Learner Analytics in the Real World
Academic
Staff
Professional
Services
Attendance Multiple Factors
Led By
Main Focus

12. So What Have We Learned?
• Academic staff see the benefits
• Students need useful information
• Digital skills are important but a
good user interface helps
• Understanding engagement is key
• Collaborative approach works well
• Everyone will challenge the data
• Communication is crucial

13. What’s Next
• Continue development
• Find more useful data
• Work with user community
• Create management reports
• Hand over to new owners