Scaling Personalised Student Communication: Current Initiatives and Future Directions

Abstract

Student engagement is one of the aspects that mediates the success of a learning experience. Fostering this engagement has always been present in the teaching practice and communication has been one of the elements used to promote it. The increasing presence of technology mediation is offering new possibilities in this space. Areas such as learning analytics and educational data mining are exploring how to combine multiple data sources and use this information to increase our understanding of how students learn, but also to improve their experience. The research activity in this space has increased significantly over the last decade, but there are still various challenges especially when it comes to institutional adoption, or translation of research results into practice. One of the aspects of learning experiences that has drawn the attention of both researchers and practitioners is the possibility to personalise the communication for large number of students. It is assumed that a personal communication that takes into account the reality of the student is more effective than generic messages and suggestions. But at the same time, scaling this approach for large student cohorts while maintaining the quality has remained a challenge. In the last few years there has been a set of tools and approaches that have emerged to translate or put into practice the findings produced by the research community in the space of scaling personalised student communication. Combining research in the areas of data mining, feedback, pedagogy, and learning design, practitioners have been using personalisation techniques to improve the way they communicate with large student cohorts. The session has two aims. The first one is to disseminate a set of current initiatives in the area of personalized student communication describing their approach to design, deployment and impact. The presentations will include a succinct description of the scenario, the objectives, the techniques and tools used and the observed impact. The second is to identify which aspects of this area need further evolution, or which new ones could be explored in the future.