Let’s talk student engagement: Connecting teachers and students using learning analytics

Abstract

Student (dis)engagement is a frequently debated topic in higher education worldwide. Many post-compulsory education providers invest heavily, in terms of financial and human resources, into the enhancement of student retention and success. As higher education institutions are increasingly being measured for the effectiveness of returns on students’ investment, it is not surprising that engagement is repeatedly measured in national student surveys to probe success and excellence at both the student and institutional level. Learning analytics data allows a lens into engagement through digital footprints of learning activities. However, remotely collected system log data do not provide a picture of the ‘whole’ student and other data such as feedback, formative assessment, student demographics need to be considered. In this ICT demonstration, participants have the opportunity to explore hands-on a cross-institutionally developed learning analytics tool that connects teachers with all students, not just those at risk. The featured relationship engagement tool is underpinned by personalizing the student experience at scale via persuasive text messages based on teacher-defined criteria of what constitutes engagement. The aim is to enable participants to adopt learning analytics without having to be data or IT experts across various educational contexts. Access to the tool and examples of learner data are provided via a cloud-based environment. During the presentation, participants are invited to engage in discussions about how we can define and measure student engagement and how we can encourage it, considering our shared experiences as teachers, learning designers, data analysts and IT experts.