Engaging online students through peer-comparison progress dashboards
Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education
ISSN: 2050-7003
Article publication date: 13 May 2019
Issue publication date: 17 January 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Students studying exclusively online face the challenge of gauging their progress in relation to that of their disparate peers. The purpose of this paper is to describe the creation of a student progress “dashboard” in an online Masters programme, and the perceived effectiveness of the tool for engaging students.
Design/methodology/approach
Tableau® visualisation software was used to create a dashboard displaying cohort comparison data comprising metrics relating to the continuous assessment components of the Masters programme. An anonymous questionnaire gauged students’ perceptions of the dashboard.
Findings
Feedback from students (n=137) suggests the dashboard improved their motivation, incentivising change in study behaviours, and sense of belonging to an online community of learners. It also acted as a conversation catalyst between staff and students, whereby students more readily engaged in dialogue with their personal tutor.
Practical implications
Distance learners are more likely to feel isolated and can become demotivated, which contributes to typically higher levels of withdrawal from online programmes vs those delivered on-campus. Tutors may consider communicating progress data as dashboards to enable online students to monitor their academic progress alongside that of their peers, as a motivational tool in an otherwise disparate group of learners, and to reduce feelings of isolation by reminding distance learners that they are part of a larger online community.
Originality/value
This paper shares student and tutor perspectives on the use of dashboards to increase online students’ motivation, and examines whether the benefits of a peer-comparison dashboard are reserved for high-achieving students.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the surgical trainees who participated in the student surveys for their insightful feedback on the dashboard, and is grateful to Michael Begg and Matthew Hammond (creators of the heat-map analytics service), and Wilma Alexander, all from the Information Services Group at Edinburgh University, for their helpful discussions on learning analytics.
Citation
Smith, P. (2020), "Engaging online students through peer-comparison progress dashboards", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 38-56. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-11-2018-0249
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited