Analytics for Student Success

Several academic technologies provide useful data and analytics that instructors can use to help monitor student activity and progress within a course. 

This information can be useful in identifying students who may be at risk for falling behind or dropping out of a course.  Instructors can also use information on student activity and engagement to help determine areas where improvements may be made within a course.

Blackboard Analytics

Blackboard has built-in reports that instructors can run to view information about course usage and activity. You can view summaries of course usage such as which course areas are used most frequently and course access patterns for specific students.  These are called Course Reports.  

UND has also purchased an additional analytics product called Analytics for Learn. These reports combine extensive data from Blackboard with student and course attributes from our student information system (Campus Connection) to create comprehensive reports and dashboards for our students, instructors, staff, and leadership.

Learn more about Blackboard Analytics

YuJa Analytics

Video analytics provide a range of essential information and data about audience responses to your video content.  With YuJa's video analytics, instructors and administrators can see who watched a video, review video hotspots, and see how long each viewer spent watching different videos. 

Learn more about YuJa Analytics

Setting Up Blackboard Courses for Analytics

In order to gather accurate data, instructors will need to ensure that the following settings are in place.

• Due Dates - Due dates are important because they help students with time management, but they also are helpful for quickly identifying students who may be falling behind. Set due dates when creating assignments and deploying exams.
• Date Management Tool - makes it easy to ensure due dates are updated when course content has been copied from a previous semester.
• Grade Center - The way Grade Center is set up can have an impact on analytics. 
  • In order to see Grade Center results in certain reports, the Total column or Manual Calculated Column must be set as the External Grade.  Note- in order to use the Campus Connection/Blackboard integration for final grades, the CC Final Grade column must be set as the External Grade.
  • Consider the impact of Weighted Grades and Running Totals
  • Clean up any extra Total Columns if content was copied from a previous semester.
• Course Organization - Course design can have implications for student success. 
  • Delete or hide any unused content or menu items.
  • Make sure the syllabus matches schedules, dates, and deadlines posted in the course.
  • Check course content for accessibility.
  • Work with an instructional designer to ensure your course meets best practices.

Reaching Out to Students

Learning analytics are most useful when they lead to action.  When instructors identify students who may be falling behind or students who are excelling, reaching out can have a big impact.  Some ways to reach out to students include:

• Sending an email through Blackboard
• Using Starfish to raise a flag or send kudos