For many years AUT has used the Wimba Voice Authoring tools for a range of learning and teaching support activities. Most recently, and most comprehensively, the VA Presenter function has been used by our School of Languages to support a group of papers for a Translating and Interpreting programme, as well as for a Sign Language qualification. Since the announcement of ‘end of life’ for Voice Authoring and its replacement with Voice Thread, we have been working to understand how we can best replicate the previous functionality.
After just a short period of the tools being available to us, we have made some progress in understanding how this new toolset will provide what we want, as well as potentially offering us much more. This session will present some of our initial findings, as well as invite others to discuss their experiences and opinions.
2. Some initial work
• The following few slides are
courtesy of the AUT Strategy and
Planning department
• Used with permission and thanks
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3. Auckland University of Technology
• Student numbers on the rise (currently 2nd
largest university in NZ)
• Student retention rates protect 5% of our
funding.
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15000
17000
19000
21000
2012 2013 2014 2015
Total students Retention rate
5. Behavioural Correlation with Success
• There is a positive relationship
between borrowing library books and
student success
• More pronounced in Pacific students
• Very similar pattern when you look at
‘interactions’ with Blackboard
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7. What measures can tell us about students on campus?
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You’re ‘around’ here
Wi-Fi
PC Lab - Using
Printing - Collecting
Timetabled Lectures
Timetabled Tutorials
Library - Books
Cashiers
Payment Kiosks
Laptop Loan Attendance Register
You ‘should’ be here
You ‘are’ here
Attendance Audit
Someone ‘is’ here
10. How do they do?
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Size of Different Attendance Group
Teacher's pet
No stamina
OMG, exam time
Late bloomer
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Teacher's Pet Late Bloomer OMG, Exam
Time
No Stamina Where's the
Campus?
Paper Pass Rate of Different Attendance Groups
12. What the students think
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“I would love an app so I can
keep up with my classes,
grades and appointments all
in one place. I would really
really like to know where I
am with grades compared to
the rest of the class”
“This system is fun. It will
motivate and makes you feel
more inclined to put more effort
in, and the lecturers can measure
your effort through this system”
13. Where to next?
• Blackboard data imported nightly
• Exploring what data is available
• What, why and how???
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Initial investigations show clear correlations between ‘learning activity’ and success
Two early identified learning activities are using the library, and accessing Blackboard
We know where you ‘should’ be from the timetable
We know the vicinity of where your devices are – which implies where you are
Few examples of knowing definitely where you are
Here are some of our students
Lily is 18 and a full time student coming straight from school last year. She has excellent NCEA results
Lily is on campus every day and doesn’t miss a class. She uses Blackboard a lot too for resources, assessment , contacting her lecturer
She has created a study group with friends from school
Stan
Stan is a part time student who has a family. He never did NCEA but has held jobs since he left school 10 years ago. He lives in West Auckland, has a part time job of 35 hours per week on the North Shore and comes to AUT for two classes, Monday and Wednesdays. He has missed about a third of his classes.
He hasn’t got into Blackboard and has trouble getting access to a computer at home or at work. He knows he can contact the lecturers but doesn’t really have the time to do so.
Jess
Jess is 18, came from school, with good NCEA results. She is the first in her family to come to university. She started off really positively with her 4 papers but is having trouble managing her time. She has a part time job. None of her school friends came to university so she gets pressure to join them at nights and on weekends. They all have jobs and money and she is wondering about whether she is doing the right thing coming to university.
Bobby
Bobby is a first year student from school who had average NCEA results. He had a great time at Orientation, made lots of friends and has spent a lot of time socialising with them early in the semester. He is a full time student, does some part time work for his mother in her business. He thought he wouldn't have any problems at University but the first few assessments were a shock and he is trying hard to get up to date with his work and keep on track.
Steph
Steph had a gap year and is still working pretty much fulltime in the job she had last year. She is also a full time student. She hasn’t used blackboard much at all and attends about half her classes. She has just realised that the end of semester is upon her and she hasn’t handed in some pieces of work.
What are their chances?
Attendance is the most important indicator of success
Lily is a full time student coming straight from school last year.
Highest paper success Lowest average age (21)
More likely to be full-time
Highest Blackboard usage
Highest NCEA Results
Stan
Lowest paper success Highest average age (26)
Part time
Lowest Blackboard usage
Lowest NCEA Results or none
Jess
HighBlackboard usage
Second lowest NCEA results
More likely to be female
Bobby
Far more likely to be first year students
Likely to be full-time
Average, average, average
Steph
Otherwise average
More likely to be female
But our big focus has been on learning analytics
We found that students who engage with AUT (e.g. use the library, Blackboard, attend lectures, etc.) are more likely to pass their courses.
Got us thinking about engagement and success in general– how we can support students to succeed.
Known indicators – demographics, secondary school performance, deprivation status, first family, past pass rates
Behavioural indicators– library usage, LMS engagement, attendance, computer lab usage
Data fields currently being archived into the data warehouse
Had to use PhotoShop to shift the decile 10 column as the columns are sorted as strings not as numbers
Still learning to use the PowerView system – eg in this chart, haven’t found a way of resetting the 0 point for the y-axis so the variations are exaggerated.