Supporting teachers in data‐informed educational design

This study presents an advanced predictive learning analytics system, OU Analyse (OUA), and evidence from its evaluation with online teachers at a distance learning university. OUA is a predictive system that uses machine learning methods for the early identification of students at risk of not submitting (or failing) their next assignment. Teachers have access, via interactive dashboards, to weekly predictions of risk of failing for each of their students. In this study, we examined how the degree of OUA usage by 559 teachers, of which 189 were given access to OUA, related to student learning outcomes of more than 14 000 students in 15 undergraduate courses. Teachers who made “average” use of OUA, that is accessed OUA throughout the life cycle of a course presentation, and in particular between 10% and 40% of the weeks a course was running, and intervened with students flagged as at risk were found to benefit their students the most; after controlling for differences in academic performance, these students were found to have significantly better performance than their peers in the previous year's course presentation during which the same teachers made no use of predictive learning analytics. Predictive learning analytics is an innovative student's support approach in online pedagogy that, as shown in this study, can empower online teachers in effectively monitoring and intervening with their students, over and above other approaches, and result in improved learning outcomes. What is already known about this topic Pedagogical and personal support to students is a significant responsibility of online teachers. Student's support is a challenging activity due to the lack of face‐to‐face interactions. Predictive learning analytics (PLA) can identify students at risk of failing their studies. What this paper adds One of the few large‐scale studies is available for examining the impact of analytics on student's performance. Teachers' usage of PLA was significantly related to better learning outcomes. Online teachers had students with better learning outcomes when accessing PLA data rather than when they had no access. Implications for practice and/or policy PLA can empower online teachers and complement the teaching practice. PLA can help in the identification and proactive intervention of students at risk of failing their studies. Actions should be taken to motivate and engage online teachers with PLA.

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 63%

Empowering online teachers through predictive learning analytics

Herodotou¹,

Hlosta²,

Boroowa³

et al. 2019

“…The influence of technology on assessment design (Bennett, Dawson, Bearman, Molloy, & Boud, ), as well as assessment analytics (see learners – assessment – analysis ) have also emerged within the literature (Ellis, ), with learner‐oriented assessment providing opportunities for deeper student self‐reflection and evidence‐based pedagogic evaluation (eg, Nix & Wyllie, ; Whitworth & Wright, ). The breadth of these papers and levels of analysis point to an area of developing practice and to a search for ways in which data can inform understanding and practice (eg, McKenney & Mor, ). Later studies have also looked at how analytics can support students directly (eg, Daley, Hillaire, & Sutherland, ; González‐Marcos, Alba‐Elías, & Ordieres‐Meré, ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting five decades of educational technology research: A content and authorship analysis of the British Journal of Educational Technology

Bond¹,

Zawacki‐Richter²,

Nichols³

2018

156

Reflecting on 50 years of educational technology research, a content and authorship analysis was conducted of 1777 research article titles and abstracts, published in the British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET) from 1970 to Issue 3, 2018. A textmining tool (Leximancer) was used to identify key concepts and themes emerging throughout each of the five decades, which were then compared to those found in a previous analysis of Computers & Education, as well as the most cited BJET publications in each decade. The framework of West and Rich (2012) was then used to provide guidance on BJET's rigour, impact and prestige. Common themes in BJET throughout the past 50 years have included the evolution of teaching and learning in distance education, the emergence of instructional design, misunderstanding between practitioners and learning designers, issues of pre and in-service teacher education and technology uptake by educators and students, including the confidence to do so, the technology skills of educators and students, as well as a lack of institutional support to provide space and time for training and integration to occur. The authorship analysis revealed an encouraging increase in international identity over time, with 60% of articles in BJET published by an author outside of the UK over the past 50 years, and 79% in the past decade. Despite this, contributions from South America, the Middle East and Africa are vastly underrepresented, and authors from these regions need further support from the field. Suggested future research areas include finding alternative models of educator professional development, further exploration of the role of theory and policy, as well as the rise of co-authorship and collaborative research. © 2018 British Educational Research AssociationRevisiting five decades of educational technology research 13Approaching this important milestone prompted the editorial team and the authors of this paper to consider the contribution that BJET has made to the field, but also to question the identity of the journal and in particular to ponder how "British" the British Journal of Educational Technology actually is. In a recent editorial (Hennessy, Girvan, Mavrikis, Price, & Winters, 2018), the editors Practitioner NotesWhat is already known about this topic• The British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET) is one of the most established and prestigious in the field, with its 50th anniversary this year. • An increasing number of bibliometric and content analyses of educational technology journals are being published, in order to gain an understanding of the history and development of the field, but research gaps exist in understanding author country of origin, gender and (academic) position. • The topics 'online learning' and 'learning environments' became widely published topics in BJET after 2008.posited that "BJET remains remarkably international despite its name" (p. 3), with UK contributions totalling 16% of articles in 2017, and the rest hailing from 19 different countries. Upon clos...

“…Towards understanding the connection between LD and LA, researchers propose to engage teachers and educational practitioners in data‐informed learning design processes (McKenney & Mor, ). There is evidence on how learning design impacts student behavior and satisfaction in Higher Education (Rienties & Toetenel, ) but few research studies focus on how teachers reflect on their own learning designs with learning analytics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Benefits of this approach are that teachers reflect on their own work and learn by designing (Kali et al, 2015). In addition, the Learning Design (LD) field contributes with languages, practices and tools which guide teachers to effectively design and share artifacts for their students΄ Towards understanding the connection between LD and LA, researchers propose to engage teachers and educational practitioners in data-informed learning design processes (McKenney & Mor, 2015). There is evidence on how learning design impacts student behavior and satisfaction in Higher Education (Rienties & Toetenel, 2016) but few research studies focus on how teachers reflect on their own learning designs with learning analytics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Teacher‐led inquiry in technology‐supported school communities

Michos¹,

Hernández‐Leo²,

Albó³

2018

Learning design is a research field which studies how to best support teachers as designers of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) situations. Although substantial work has been done in the articulation of the learning design process, little is known about how learning designs are experienced by students and teachers, especially in the context of schools. This paper empirically examines if a teacher inquiry model, as a tool for systematic research by teachers into their own practice, facilitates the connection between the design and data‐informed reflection on TEL interventions in two school communities. High school teachers participated in a learning design professional development program supported by a web‐based community platform integrating a teacher inquiry tool (TILE). A multiple case study was conducted aimed at understanding: (a) current teacher practice and (b) teacher involvement in inquiry cycles of design and classroom implementations with technologies. Multiple data sources were used over a one year period including focus groups transcripts, teacher interview protocols, digital artifacts, and questionnaires. Sharing teacher‐led inquiries together with learning analytics was perceived as being useful for connecting pedagogical intentions with the evaluation of their enactment with learners, and this differed from their current practice. Teachers’ reflections about their designs focused on the time management of learning activities and their familiarity with the enactment and analytics tools. Results inform how technology can support teacher‐led inquiry and collective reflective practice in schools.