In our August 4th LAVA meeting, we will be hearing from Dr. Fatemeh Salehian. Fatemeh is a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Information at UBC. She is currently affiliated to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the University of South Australia. She has been working on learning analytics projects for over seven years. Her research focuses on understanding how learners self-regulate their learning processes and how learning analytics can help to support self-regulated learning since it is critically associated with students’ performance and learning outcomes. Her research focuses on using data to study learners’ behaviors in online learning environments to develop indicators of learning behavior.
From Fatemeh:
I will talk about two projects focusing on providing actionable information for students.
First is the OnTask platform which offers an intuitive interface to upload data about student engagement into a matrix and the definition of a set of simple when/do rules to customize email messages for the students. Instructors use the indicators about student engagement to select/ignore text portions that are then collated and sent to the students as regular email messages. These messages provide students with personalized support and suggestions to improve their engagement. In our recent analysis, the results showed that there is a significant association between the messages’ topics and the students’ performance.
Second, My Learning Analytics (MyLA) is a student-facing dashboard that provides students with information about their engagement with course materials and resources, assignments, and grades in a Canvas course. A set of three learning analytics data visualizations have been designed to reveal behavioral patterns associated with good learning skills, guide decisions about actions students can take that may improve their academic outcomes, and provide a transparent view of students’ course standing.