Unizin institutions join pilot of learning analytics tools developed by U-M

The University of Michigan, Indiana University, and the University of Iowa have announced an initiative to coordinate on a joint pilot of the My Learning Analytics (MyLA) tools that have been developed at U-M and leverage the new Unizin Data Platform. MyLA is a set of visualizations designed to promote metacognition, facilitate self-regulated learning, and provide students deeper insights into their course performance.

Representatives from these three universities were very closely aligned in their interests of exploring a research-driven alternative to providing learning analytics capabilities and the in the potential to compare student outcomes resulting from a collaborative pilot.

These institutions will conduct a joint research study on the use of MyLA to determine what impact these visualizations have on motivation, self-regulated learning, and overall course performance.

“The MyLA endeavor across the Unizin consortium represents the delivery of a service that is at the core of the Unizin mission,” said Matthew Gunkel, director of teaching and learning technology at Indiana University. “MyLA shows how institutions working together can directly impact the student experience at scale while working on a multitude of issues and ideas for learning analytics.”

MyLA was initially developed at U-M, but has begun accepting code contributions from other institutions, most notably from developers at the University of British Columbia. There was also a Unizin Hackathon in May in which several institution had an opportunity to design and prototype new MyLA functionality.

Ross Miller, senior developer at the University of Iowa and lead for the pilot at the Iowa City campus, expressed that, “the University of Iowa is very excited to participate in a joint pilot of U-M’s MyLA. Participating in the MyLA joint pilot is a great opportunity to share resources across the Unizin consortium, leveraging the Unizin Data Platform to provide another tool to our students and also conduct a joint research on student learning and motivation.”

Those interested in piloting MyLA can contact: student-dashboard-workgroup@umich.edu.

Read about how MyLA earned a gold medal award at the 2019 IMS Global Learning Impact competition. The Learning Impact awards recognize “outstanding, innovative applications of educational technology to address the most significant challenges facing education.”