STELA Live: Implementing Learning Analytics for Student Success

This presentation describes a large cross-institutional project run at an Irish university which used learning analytics (LA) capabilities to enhance student engagement. The project was a first for the institution in several ways, as it took a centralized and coordinated approach to the utilization of LA for the first time. The purpose of this project was to establish the infrastructure and framework necessary to provide learning interventions that could mitigate the risk of students underperforming in selected first-year modules. The predictive models utilized a combination of demographic data, continuous assessment scores, and student engagement data derived from the university’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). After building these models with a cohort of 8000 students over four academic years, a pilot intervention was designed in which about 2000 students were notified about their likelihood of success based on the model’s predictions and were directed toward available academic support services. The outcomes of this pilot intervention were evaluated and the findings are shared to offer insights on how learning analytics can be applied in higher education to support student success, particularly in large, diverse cohorts.