Data-Driven Instruction
Since we pride ourselves on great teaching and we know you do too, be sure to use the tools in D2L to guide your instruction, coach students into effective academic behaviors, and remediate on course subjects as needed. Data can help you answer questions, such as, "When and which resources did students view prior to submitting an assignment?"; "Which discussion generated the most traffic—that is, has the most student views?"; "Which resources are used most frequently that are important to students' success on a quiz?"; and "What are the patterns of performance on an assignment or quiz as related to how often students logged on to the course?" There are two ways to look at your student engagement, and we recommend you look at these data at least once a week.
Use these tools:
- Class Engagement. Located in the Course Access widget to the right of your D2L screen, you can click on this link to see the high-level performance data for your students. Here you can see when students have logged in last, their current grade, how many discussion posts they have made, and how many replies they have made so far in the course. This is a nice overall view of student performance in your course. Be sure to reach out to students whom you see falling behind that are not logging in and engaging in discussions as often as others—a few encouraging words can go a long way!
- User/Class Progress. In the Other Tools Menu on the top of the screen, scroll down and select User/Class Progress to see how much content your students are accessing, their trends in engaging in the course, and their grades. This is a nice view to see if students are taking advantage of all the great content curated for their success. Similar to class engagement, this is a great way to see how your students are doing and what they are accessing; do you need to coach some students into accessing their course materials for greater success?
- Gradebook. It is important to update your gradebook on a weekly basis to ensure students have an accurate understanding of their grade to date. If a student is missing an assignment and negotiated an extended due date, a “0” should be entered as a placeholder. Entering a “0” in the gradebook for missing assignments improves the faculty/student transparency and prevents students from misinterpreting their grade.
- Reflective Practice: Each week when you have finished grading, please take a moment to reflect on how your students did for the week. Spend time thinking about your learning objectives for the week and how the grades shaped up on the key assessments mapped to them—it may be time to host a Zoom session to touch upon a concept that is critical to their success in the course and in their careers.
Analyzing and Interpreting Data
In the online learning environment, data and data reports provide important insight into student behaviors, needs, and progress. In fact, some of the data we can harness from these engagement reports will signal concerns about a student in a way that would not be possible in the physical classroom. In addition, understanding what to look for related to student engagement can allow faculty to intervene sooner to provide needed support to a student.
When analyzing course data, remember that correlation does not necessarily imply causation. Just because two variables appear to relate to one another does not mean that one causes the other. For instance, if you see a drop in student engagement during a certain week, it doesn't necessarily mean that the learning materials didn't engage students. It could mean that students had deadlines to meet in other courses, or perhaps another assessment you have on the horizon demanded more of their attention than you anticipated. Use whatever context you can to look for correlations between your course data and the conclusions that you draw from it.
Keep in mind also that not all student needs are academic-related. Many are not. Students may be dealing with any number of issues outside of their online activity. It's important that we assume the best when we see concerns about student engagement or performance and approach students from a place of concern and understanding.
Here are some engagement behaviors to look for as you analyze and interpret data:
- Incomplete or missing work. Students who are not submitting work regularly need quick intervention to help you understand the root of the issue, whether technical, academic, or personal.
- Consistent late work. If a student is consistently submitting late work, reach out to the student to troubleshoot. Support the student’s executive functioning skills by sending resources on time management or other related topics.
- Attendance. Keep tabs on which students have not logged in recently. It’s important that students maintain their attendance in the course. Reach out to the student, and be sure to explain attendance policies at the start of the term.
- Lack of consistent content access. Throughout the arc of your course, students should access and progress through your content at a reasonable pace. Students who are not accessing content at the rate of others may need to be reminded of the utility of materials to their performance and/or may signal a need to update resources in your course.
- Inconsistent engagement. If something changes with a student’s behavior (such as if they were very active, and that then changes), reach out to see if there is an issue. Sudden changes in behavior might be a sign that a student has had a change in circumstances.
- Lack of responsiveness. If a student is not responding to your communication, begin by varying your approach. Some students do not check email regularly and prefer other methods of communication. Submit an EAB Alert if you are unable to connect with the student.
In all cases, when providing outreach to students, it is important to approach your communication with a supportive tone. Providing a culture of care is particularly important when students are managing multiple priorities and stress.
For example, students often appreciate it when their professor frames a missing assignment outreach with:
Dear Emma, I do hope everything is okay with you. I noticed you missed last week's assignment; is there anything I can be doing to help you turn that in, less the late penalties?
Another approach could be:
Dear Ryan, I liked the overall tone of this assignment and its intent, and closer alignment to the assignment directions (e.g., using the ACE framework) would have strengthened it and maximized your points.
Moreover, we encourage you to set aside time each week to review all data points, think about your teaching and your student interactions, and jot down your thoughts, feelings, and ideas to continue to improve your practice and meet your student’s needs. To sum that up, we are big fans of reflective teaching practice, and we hope you will join us in our quest to continue to improve our teaching. Want to learn more about reflective practice? Here are some great ways to get started:
- 5 Quick Steps to Reflective Practice: https://www.teachhub.com/5-quick-steps-reflective-practice
- The Reflective Teacher: https://teaching.temple.edu/edvice/reflective-teacher
Need some new and creative lessons to liven up your class and reach your students in innovative ways? We love the K. Patricia Cross Academy—you can search for lessons by activity type, teaching problem area, or learning taxonomy dimension. Not only do you have free and open access to videos, but many of the materials to make it successful. Not all the lessons can be easily applied to the online classroom, but many can, and we encourage you to modify a discussion and/or create synchronous meetings with some of the lessons in mind. https://kpcrossacademy.org/videos/
