ERIC Number: EJ1126856
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 24
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1929-7750
EISSN: N/A
An Investigation of First-Year Engineering Student and Instructor Perspectives of Learning Analytics Approaches
Knight, David B.; Brozina, Cory; Novoselich, Brian
Journal of Learning Analytics, v3 n3 p215-238 2016
This paper investigates how first-year engineering undergraduates and their instructors describe the potential for learning analytics approaches to contribute to student success. Results of qualitative data collection in a first-year engineering course indicated that both students and instructors emphasized a preference for learning analytics systems to focus on aggregate as opposed to individual data. Another consistent theme across students and instructors was an interest in bringing data related to time (e.g., how time is spent outside of class) into learning analytics products. Students' and instructors' viewpoints diverged regarding the "level" at which they would find a learning analytics dashboard useful. Instructors remained focused on a specific class, but students drove the conversation to a much broader scope at the major or university level but in a discipline-specific manner. Such practices that select relevant data and develop models "with" learners and teachers instead of "for" learners and teachers should better inform development of and, ultimately, sustainable use of learning analytics-based models and dashboards.
Descriptors: Undergraduate Students, Engineering Education, College Faculty, Attitude Measures, Data Analysis, Data Collection, Educational Research, Student Attitudes, Teacher Attitudes, Teaching Methods, Interviews, Coding
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A