Preconference Session 3. - Seminar room C

The potential of learning analytics, of using student data, to enhance the student experience is rapidly emerging (JISC Inform), (Siemens, Dawson, Lynch, 2013) and students will increasingly expect it to be used for their benefit (Jisc, 2012).

Nottingham Trent University (NTU), together with Solutionpath.co.uk, has developed a Student Dashboard that uses existing student data to provide an indicator of student engagement with the aim of supporting the student/tutor relationship, and enhancing student retention and success. It was piloted in 2013/14 with first year students, and this year is available for all students within the university.

At Teesside we have developed a Rich Data Working Group. The aims of the group are to more effectively collect, analyse and utilise the vast data we collect on our students and their experiences at the University. A recent focus of the group has been to more effectively analyse the end of stage data we collect from our level 4 and level 5 students to identify what best predicts their overall student satisfaction. Other live projects of the group also includes analysis of Employability data collects on recent leavers and the impacts of peer leadership experiences on the student experience.

In this interactive session, we will provide an introduction to using student data to improve the first year student experience, and share what we have learnt along the way!

References
Jisc, 2012. Activity Data: Delivering benefits from the data deluge [online]. Available at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/activity-data-delivering-benefits-from-the-data-deluge.

Siemens, G., Dawson, G., Lynch, G., 2013. Improving the Quality and Productivity of the Higher Education Sector Policy and Strategy for Systems-Level Deployment of Learning Analytics Society for Learning Analytics Research [online]. Available at:
http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv64739.

To lead this session we have got Ed Foster, Sarah Lawther and Matthew Portas

Ed Foster is the Student Engagement Manager at NTU. His remit is to find ways to overcome barriers to students engaging with their studies. He is responsible for developing the NTU Student Dashboard and other institutional systems for helping students to participate fully in their studies. He previously worked in learning development and is actively researching student transition into HE and student retention. Probably more interestingly he knows the difference between a Newton Wonder, a Laxton’s Pearmain and a Radford Beauty.

Sarah Lawther works as a Learning & Teaching Officer at NTU. Sarah has extensive experience researching students' transition into higher education. She currently manages a large institutional project to identify and overcome barriers to student success for groups with historically lower progression and attainment. Sarah also organises the first year student transition survey for the University.

Matthew Portas is a University Teaching Fellow at Teesside University, UK. He has lectured undergraduate and postgraduate Sports Science students at the university for fifteen years. He has a particular interest and a leadership role at Teesside in the retention and success of students and his work is particularly focussed around students' transitions and developing learning community approaches to learning.