IU is concerned with recognizing the factors that cause high student engagement and retention rates, according to the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning.
The grant recipients in the Student Learning Analytics Fellows Program are working to assess these issues in their own disciplines. This year, 10 projects have received funding from CITL.
“Learning analytics is a process of using student data to be able to fully understand what is going on in the classroom, and to be able to take that information and to directly apply it into increasing instruction and learning for the students,” said Jared Allsop, lecturer in the School of Public Health and a 2015 fellow.
Every project receives $2,000 in funding and licenses for a software program that provides data visualization and exploration tools. All provisions are given by the Bloomington Assessment and Research office.
To apply for the program, Kalani Craig, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of History, said she submitted a plan looking at undergraduate retention and engagement in her area of study. She was recently accepted into the program this year, and results of her research will be shared in fall 2017.
Craig said she was interested in finding teaching methods that can help students and the environments in which they tend to master these skills most effectively.
“In other words, how do we keep IUB students on campus, keep them excited about IUB classes and help them graduate?” Craig said.
Craig’s research focuses on patterns in fulfillment of the social and historical general education degree requirements. Many students arrive on campus with transfer, Advanced Placement or Advanced College Project credits that count as social and historical units, while others complete all of their requirements by enrolling in courses at IU.
Opportunities to take ACP dual credit courses, like H105: American History I and H106: American History II, at high schools and community colleges have increased in recent years. Craig said this is a good advancement because it increases college preparedness and affordability.
“On the other hand, these options have multiplied so fast in the last five years that we don’t fully understand how these choices affect students’ experience once they get to IUB,” Craig said.
To study these patterns, Craig’s analysis will compare graduation rates, grades and enrollment rates for social and historical electives. She will also examine statistics comparing transfer students coming in with these credits to high school students with ACP and AP experience.
Craig said there is a positive difference in the experience students have when taking classes with IU professors who are experts in their field. These professors can directly provide insight and expertise to students that may not be available elsewhere.
“We want students who are in residence at IUB to be challenged, to have a special experience they can’t get anywhere else,” Craig said.
However arriving at the University with credit hours can be an invaluable advantage, Craig said. Analyzing success rates of every group of students, regardless of their path taken, will allow ACP and AP class structure improvement statewide, she said.
The Student Learning Analytics Fellows Program supports new projects every year in disciplines such as public health, economics and anthropology. CITL uses information from all areas to improve future outreach and opportunities, so students can receive more in education
“Ultimately, and my training as a historian is going to show here despite the big data focus of the fellowship, it’s about how we think about the past, and how the past can help us as we look to the future,” Craig said.
