Presenter Tim McKay, Learning Analytics Task Force: 2012-2015.

The UM Learning Analytics Task Force (LATF) was launched by then-Provost Phil Hanlon in May of 2012. During its three year term, LATF has worked to help the campus community use data to understand and improve teaching and learning. In this talk, I will review highlights of the rapid progress in this field at Michigan, provide a preview of the final report from LATF, and make some predictions about where learning analytics is headed, especially here at Michigan.

For more information about learning analytics at U-M and to view videos and slides from past SLAM presentations, click here.

Presenters: Christopher Brooks and Stephanie Teasley, School of Information, U-M

From “think-pair-share” to group projects, it is well known that collaborative elements enhance active learning. We examined three university and community college classes using SKIES, a tablet-based technology that enables students and teachers to create and contribute knowledge together in real-time to an interconnected class tree visible to all. Instructors promoted joint knowledge creation in their classes in different ways, from encouraging students to participate via free-form backchannels to leading students through structured activities built into the lesson. Varying practices are related to how, when, where, and what students and teachers created together, with resultant positive effects on student learning. These results inform new approaches to learning analytics and data visualization relevant to instructors and students alike.