Recently, the Student Engagement SIG had the opportunity to hear Jon Fawcett, Project Officer (Academic Plan) and Dr Sarah Butcher, lecturer in School of Law and Justice and First Year Experience Lead, speak about the work they had undertaken first to find, then analyse, USQ data on student engagement. Within a vast, semi-hidden cache of analytics, and a mass of complex data, Jon and his team have managed to find some gems – insights into student engagement at USQ.

But first some context…

• One of the elements of the Academic Plan is a focus on the first year experience.
• Working closely with the School of Law and Dr Sarah Butcher, First Year Experience Lead, Jon and his team sought to better understand first year student engagement, with the aim being to provide better, and more targeted, support to those that needed it.
• To facilitate this understanding, data analytics were obtained from a number of places: StudyDesk, panopto, and USQ’s compliance and reporting databases.
• Jon then correlated and analysed the data in order to draw conclusions.

Findings…

The investigation revealed some interesting data. At times, it confirmed shared beliefs around student engagement — other times, it shattered preconceptions.

• Pathways programs: Students entering Law through the Headstart program were, on average, more successful than those who entered without a pathways program. Those entering through TPP and IHEPP were, on average, less successful.
  • As a consequence of this finding, more support is being provided for these students.
• Date of enrolment: The date when students enrolled had a significant impact on success. Those students who enrolled prior to semester commencement were the most successful. There was a sharp drop in success rate for those enrolling after the start of semester. Those who enrolled within 3.5 to 7 days of the start of semester, dropped to approximately 50% success rate.
  • As an outcome, additional support is already being given to students who enrol after the start of semester, considering them ‘at risk’ even at this early stage.
• Panopto engagement: User completion reports in panopto were accessed to align the number of hours students watched (as an indicators of engagement) with their overall achievement. There was a direct correlation between the number of hours watched and student success. While some students watched 50 hours of video (representing watching some of the videos more than once), 10 hours was the threshold for success, with approximately 85% of these students passing. Pass rates dropped significantly after this, with very little chance of success for students not engaging with video content at all.
  • This semester, the panopto analytics are being accessed throughout the semester, instead of at the end, to identify students who would benefit from nudging.

Want to know more? Access the video below.