Deirdre Cijffers, Blended Learning Consultant for Cambridge, explores the importance of the student data you’re now readily getting from digitally focused courses such as Touchstone.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about Data and Big Data and how it can magically transform your daily practice so that you can tailor your classes to every individual in it. We’ve heard promises like these before and we’ve learned to take them with a pinch of salt. So the question is: is there value in using data at all?
Personally, I don’t believe in magical transformations, but I do believe in transformation as development over time both for us as teaching professionals and for our craft. In that sense, data can definitely be a tool we can employ to identify avenues for experimentation and growth. In order to do this, we need to understand what data is and what it offers us.
So what is data?
Data basically means information and we get it from activities that our students do online that are tracked, typically by a Learning Management System (LMS). Depending on the LMS you use, the information you get can include scores, numbers of attempts, time spent, number of blog posts written etc.
What does it tell us?
The data gives you a snapshot of what is happening now and can therefore inform your immediate actions: e.g. you see a student who is struggling with a particular grammar point and you can think about what you can do to help that student perform better. It also gives you some insight into how your students are progressing (or not) over time so you can identify areas of weakness in the group. Furthermore, you can re-evaluate how you approach those areas in class time and perhaps try something different to get through to your learners differently.
How does it ‘transform’ my teaching?
Data is only as good as what we do with it once we’ve got it. Whether you are using the data to get an immediate or long term picture of your students’ performance, having this information will change how you plan your lessons. Knowing the weaknesses of my students in the present perfect, for example, I can plan an activity that will allow them to use the language in a meaningful context and experiment with it so we can discuss usage in more depth afterwards. In longer term, I can decide that I need to take a new view on teaching conversation strategies – for example, research other options, new activities, try out a methodology I wouldn’t normally use, maybe even try Flipped Classroom teaching. It’s an opportunity for us to stretch our teaching muscles and experiment reflectively on other approaches and how they work for our students.
How do students benefit from this?
Students benefit from this in having more focused practice in the classroom. If your students are able to work directly on things they need to do, that will help them to progress faster and build more confidence in their abilities. This is true for the time spent in the classroom as well as for consolidation and practice that you ask them to do at home later. Teachers can do this if they have a clear picture of what the students require, which is exactly what the data provides.
To find out more about how you can benefit from using data in the classroom, watch Deirdre’s webinar on using data to inform your teaching.