Teachers’ effective use of dashboards
Teacher-facing dashboards in adaptive digital learning systems, such as intelligent tutoring systems, are designed to summarise and display student learning processes and outcomes. It's assumed that these learning analytics can help teachers adapt their instruction and individualise support.
However, as we will review below, there are cases where teachers largely ignore the feedback information provided by these dashboards, raising the question of how often and how effectively teachers use them and what factors might improve their receptiveness. We will also explore how teachers can incorporate these dashboards into their research-informed teaching practices and discuss the implications for professional development and educational leadership.
Development and trialling of a new learning app
Over the past few years, I have developed a small-scale learning app for German grammar and spelling, MasteryX, together with students at the University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany. The app provides micro-courses on punctuation, capitalisation, tenses and other topics. Students begin with a prior knowledge test and then practice the grammar rules that they have not correctly mastered in the assessment. The app delivers instructional videos and written rules for each grammar rule. After practising, the learners can retake the assessment and move on to the next course level.