Sabbatical Data Project – Part 1
Pixabay License
Part of my sabbatical is to do a “mini” project at GCC as a proof of concept or example of how faculty can use data to answer questions about the courses they teach. “This part (of my sabbatical) will also involve working with GCC’s SPA (IE department) to create a data project that supports my department and other departments that might have an interest in using data.” My hope was to expand upon the ideas of a Learning Grant my department had last year: Analytics for English Faculty Learning Community. The goals of this project were to make reading, writing, and English humanities faculty members, who teach online and/or hybrid courses at Glendale Community College, more knowledgeable about the types of student data available to them and the ethically and pedagogically sound methods to use said data.
So for this mini project, I plan to expand upon the ideas behind this grant into this part of my sabbatical. One question that I’ve always had is, “Is there a way to predict how well students will do in an online or hybrid class before they even begin?” If we can predict which students might be at risk, we can then design targeted interventions to help those students. I’m not talking about standard best practices that we should be doing for all students. I’m talking about interventions that are more invasive that might be disruptive to the course if an instructor tried to do them with all students. An example of an intervention might be requiring students to meet with the instructor with in the first week to discuss goals for the course. This could prove helpful, but probably impossible for an instructor with multiple online and hybrid courses.
The data we would like to see are:
- what previous classes have been attempted, including online and hybrid class history
- how many drops and withdrawals,
- past grades on prerequisite courses,
- GPA,
- placement test scores,
- and demographic data.
I’ll post more on this “mini” project after we get the data. In the mean time I’ll be researching what interventions we might add to our suggested list to help support the students identified at risk and for colleges who have similar programs set up and what their success has been.
I’m also starting a new MOOC this week: Analytics in Course Design: Leveraging Canvas Data. The primary goal of this course is to explore Canvas data and visualization techniques that faculty and instructional designers can use to make informed decisions about Canvas course design. Finally, a course that makes sense to me. The course has four modules that each apply different aspects of Canvas data to course design. The modules cover Student Engagement, Course Design, Assignment Submissions, and Discussion Interactions.
MIL Proposal 2012- Statement of Project Goals
So I’m finally getting around to applying for the Maricopa Institute of Learning (MIL) Fellowship Program in the district. MIL is a “Fellowship for six residential faculty in any discipline who are interested in examining significant issues in their teaching fields and contributing to the scholarship of teaching and learning through classroom research projects. Its secondary purpose is to create a community of scholars that will engage in conversations about the scholarship of teaching and learning.” I’ve wanted to apply for about five years now, but I’ve never gotten around to it. Well, this is the year, and here is my statement of project goals. I’ll post the rest once I’m accepted (fingers crossed).
With the growing popularity of online courses in the district, more students are opting for an online course of study. And as we rush to provide these online courses, we continue to look for more effective online instructional practices. Online asynchronous discussion seems to be the most prevalent practice in online courses. Online asynchronous discussions are discussions through an online media where participants are responding to each other, but not simultaneously. Online discussions are good practice because the discussion is happening in an asynchronous manner, participants have time to think about the question and others’ responses before posting their response. They are able to develop their thoughts more fully, rather than responding immediately after the question is asked. The discussion groups also provide an opportunity for participants to hear feedback from members who may be reluctant to share information in a face-to-face group setting. It is an effective online instructional practice. However, in most cases asynchronous discussions, despite their good points, more often than not are the least favorite aspect of the online course according to students. This is the case mostly because online discussions are not implemented effectively by instructors. My goal for this project is to research effective ways to structure online asynchronous discussions with particular emphasis on student led small group interaction. Discussions in online and hybrid courses as an instructional technique are integral to using cooperative learning structures, so that will be the focus of my research.
