Our class has been invited to pilot a learning analytics tool that allows students to view data about course activities and progress. As part of this pilot, you will have access to My Learning Analytics (MyLA), which is a set of three data visualizations designed for students.
The goal of this pilot is to allow students and instructors to explore a learning analytics tool, and provide feedback about usability and functionality through online surveys.
What is My Learning Analytics (MyLA)?
My Learning Analytics, or MyLA, is a tool in Canvas that allows you to view your progress towards learning goals and check your performance in a course. Check out this video for a short introduction: My Learning Analytics Tutorial (9:17 mins) or review the Manage Your Learning Goals page.
My Learning Analytics was developed at the University of Michigan. UW-Madison is piloting MyLA in selected courses during fall semester, so we can obtain student and instructor feedback on this tool. We’re leveraging the University of Michigan support resources, but if you have questions about MyLA, please contact the UW-Madison learning analytics team at LearningAnalytics@office365.wisc.edu.
Why use MyLA?
The visualizations use data from Canvas to help you reflect, make choices about studying for your course and managing your progress.
What other students say about MyLA:
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“It really helped plan out my studying goals—I knew how much each assignment counted for in my grade, so I could set priorities.”
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“I thought it was useful to gain insight to how I was doing overall in comparison to other students in the class.”
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“This was super helpful when it came to exam times. I could see how my classmates were studying and what resources they were using, and that helped me try to figure out my own gameplan.”
We chose to pilot MyLA after conducting numerous rounds of student engagement across several years, where we asked students what type of data might be helpful to support their learning. If you are interested in learning more about our process or student engagement, please check out the slides or recording from the April 2024 Learning Analytics Community of Practice session about Empowering Students: Engagement and Participatory Design.
What you need to know: timeline & expectations
MyLA will be turned on in this course in late September. The visualizations will build over time, as you access more course content and submit assignments. Data will not appear instantly; typically it will take 24 hours but it may be up to 72 hours.
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Keep in mind that MyLA shows data about assignments and activity only in Canvas; be sure to read the syllabus. If there are assignments that are graded outside of Canvas, it will affect the data that appears in the MyLA dashboard.
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Depending on how a course is set up and how many students are in the course, all three visualizations may not be available in every course.
This pilot project aligns with UW-Madison’s Learning Analytics Guiding Principles and our Teaching & Learning Data Transparency Statement which state that we should use data to support students and inform them about how teaching and learning data may be used.
Please check out the visualizations and experiment with the filters and views, you will be asked to provide your feedback in an online survey later this semester.
If you see anything unusual or concerning in the visualizations, or if you have questions about how to read the visualizations, please talk with your instructor or contact LearningAnalytics@office365.wisc.edu with your questions and feedback.
Using MyLA:
Access the visualizations from the navigation on the left side of the Canvas course page. MyLA depends on information in Canvas. You should always refer to the syllabus or your instructor for assignment and grading information.
You can use MyLA to learn about:
- the resources (files) you and other students have accessed,
- upcoming assignments and how your performance on them is related to your grade, and
- your current grade and the overall grade distribution.
Recommended resources to review:
Notes:
- Instructors can choose which visualizations to use in their course. Courses with 10 or fewer students do not have access to the Grade Distribution view.
- Grades reflect current scores in Canvas. Your course may have additional assignments or rules that impact your grade. Always refer to your syllabus or other grade information provided by your instructor.
- Data will not appear instantly; typically it will take 24 hours but there may be a lag of up to 72 hours between when Canvas activity occurred and when it will be visible in MyLA. (We are working to shorten this timing; there are multiple data sources and layers.)
- MyLA does NOT work on mobile devices at this time; access it from laptops/desktops.
Questions?
