Learning analytics have now become a necessity that educators cannot ignore. With more and more learning analytics software being available in the market and new advancements in learning analytics being made every day, it’s important for you as an educator to know why your school should be using learning analytics.
- Personalised learning profiles
It is quite impractical for teachers to provide individualised attention to each and every student in a classroom setting. Due to this, teachers might mistakenly overlook individual strengths and weaknesses of students which can be detrimental for their progress.
Learning analytics put two and two together on this problem by using data about the performance of each and every student to understand and provide insights about their performance. These personalised student profiles are curated using every data point available inside and outside of the school which can be instrumental in customising their learning tools to assist further progress.
2. Operational efficiency
With learning analytics, it’s easier for educators to understand how effectively the school’s resources are being utilised. This, along with insights into how students are acquiring information and the effectiveness of the school’s deliverables can help schools to allocate their staff & budgets more methodically. Additionally, learning analytics can help you to measure the individual performance of specific classes, year-levels and subjects through benchmarking their performance against historical data.
3. Aid in curriculum planning
When educators are preparing curriculum plans, it’s important for them to have a clear understanding of whether what they have been teaching and the way they have been teaching works.
With the use of learning analytics, you can now analyse the effectiveness of your curriculum and instructional methods on grade and subject level.
Data available inside learning analytic platforms can help you to understand assessment types more popular among students and help teachers to plan their class to get the best outcome. Teachers can combine learning tool ( Online textbooks) session data and outcome data ( marks) to plan the classes to get the best engagement.
4. Early intervention
Learning analytics platforms such as Octopus BI are exclusively designed to look at student data and intervene before it’s too late. As an example, a simple data dashboard to look at late arrivals to school can generate an alert to the head of pastoral care when a student arrives late to class 3 consecutive days. This way, Pastoral care, academic and operational leaders in the school can start to assist students before it’s too late.
5. Increased student engagement
In the short term, learning analytics can help to predict failures and provide solutions to current learning difficulties which can be crucial to maintain the engagement of students and ensure that they stay in school. These small but encouraging victories can then increase the likelihood of students engaging more in the classroom by developing their self-confidence. Learning analytics can also help educators to adapt teaching techniques that match the unique mindset of each student, which will ultimately help the student to carry out their work at their own pace.
In conclusion, learning analytics have become an inevitable force that will change the way educators teach and students learn forever. With the help of learning analytics platforms such as Octopus BI, educators now have the opportunity to take proactive steps to help students achieve their learning objectives and goals.
