We’ve discussed Learning Analytics and the valuable ways they can inform our pedagogical decisions in this October 2024 blog post. As we hit the midpoint of the semester, it is a good time to remember some of the Learning Analytics available in Brightspace. Content Reports are particularly helpful for a quick understanding of how much of the content within your course is being accessed. Getting a birds eye view of how students are, and just as importantly are not, making use of the course materials can help us make thoughtful evaluations about the effectiveness of our teaching approaches, how well we are communicating our expectations to students, and identify adjustments we may need to make to help our students achieve the learning outcomes for our course.
The way students interact with the content can lead to important questions. If no students are accessing content, or if students are not spending enough time on a particular piece of content to benefit from the learning material, what can we do as an instructor to understand why and what can we do to facilitate better student engagement with the content?
While these metrics are not sufficient for substantial course design and pedagogical decision making, they are a simple and quick starting point. These data points are valuable throughout a semester for identifying content topics that do not promote enough student engagement.
For course and assignment-level support on learning analytics, contact your Office of Teaching Excellence & Innovation liaison.
If you’re interested in larger scale learning analytics projects, such as comparing learning analytics across multiple courses and multiple semesters, reach out the Learning Analytics team.