From Data Gathering to Course Redesign, APLU Services Target Student Success

Data-informed instructional practices can transform learning. But for many educators, questions about what type of data is relevant, where to get that data, and if the data is timely stand in the way of adopting an evidence based approach.

Riccardo Purita, Assistant Director of the Office of Digital Transformation for Student Success for the Association of Public & Land-grant Universities (APLU), often hears these questions about how student and course data can guide effective teaching.

“We know a lot of folks just don’t have the infrastructure and policies to access data in real time at a level to really make change as quickly as they’d like,” Purita says. “Folks are often not able to really know how an intervention in a course is measured or even how well a course design is working until the end of the semester.”

These concerns motivated the development of APLU’s Building an Academic Data Culture to Support Student Success, a professional development program that includes workshops and coaching and helps cross-functional teams collect, analyze, and communicate data to address student success at their institution. Participants learn to identify and use key relationships and resources to gather and understand data. Other programs offered by APLU include:

• Flexible Learning Environments for Improved Student Success — This training and coaching helps institutional teams use change management and continuous improvement to build and scale adaptive learning environments. These environments may be in a variety of course formats, including digital and hybrid.
• Implementing Mathematics Courseware Through Collaborative Course Redesign for Student Success — This service supports faculty and administrators in redesigning high-enrollment, first-year math classes, particularly gateway courses. Participants explore how to select quality courseware and use evidence-based, data-supported practices that can close achievement gaps and encourage student success.
• Digital Teaching: Leveraging Digital Learning Tools and Resources to increase Online Student Interaction and improve Student Learning Outcomes — This service, targeting academic leadership and stakeholders, shows how digital courseware can support collaborative course redesign and personalized learning. Participants focus on integrating this courseware with evidence-based practices and data analytics to improve learning outcomes.

Building an Academic Data Culture to Support Student Success is one of the menu of professional development services offered by the organizations in the Every Learner Everywhere network. APLU along with other network partners like Achieving the Dream, Hispanic Education Technology Services, and the Online Learning Consortium collaborate to offer technical assistance that supports colleges and universities as they advance student-centered, faculty-powered, and institution-driven improvement.

Focusing on digital instructional tools

The topics and audiences for these professional development services vary, but each highlights the use of digital tools to enhance higher education instruction and outcomes. The process begins with APLU representatives meeting with a team from the participating institution to identify a specific issue related to the training topic that is a challenge for that school. APLU then develops its instruction and assistance specific to the needs of the institution.

The service typically includes five synchronous workshops for one or more participating school over a period that spans 12–16 weeks. Purita says a period like this focused on learning ways to remove instructional barriers is a key benefit of the workshops.

“‘A lot of folks in higher education are so busy doing so many different things, it’s not often they get a chance to take something specific and really dive into it deeper,” he says. “That amount of time really lets people get to a point on an issue they may not have gotten to otherwise.”

APLU selects experts from peer institutions with peers experienced in leading data-driven student success initiatives to serve as coaches and facilitators as part of these services. Coaching sessions help participants develop an action plan for overcoming the challenge they’re addressing. Ideally, institutions select between four and eight people to complete the workshops.

Building buy-in and building community

Near the end of the program, facilitators lead participants through developing a presentation to decision makers to help build awareness and gain buy-in for proposed interventions. Through it all, the participants work together to learn concepts, discuss challenges, and suggest solutions.

“The team collaboration is another important benefit,” Purita says. “That opportunity to connect with a lot of folks at your institution and not feel like you’re just working on this on your own is helpful.”

In addition to creating an action plan — and building a presentation for sharing it — another goal of each service is to start a community of practice that continues discussion of the sessions’ topics even after they end.

“That’s the exciting part for me is really making sure that by the end of it, they feel like they have the tools they need to keep things going,” says Purita. “We are committed to working with instructional teams to develop action steps that help them advance their goals beyond our time together.”