Situation
As the first UK institution to adopt Canvas LMS over a decade ago, The University of Birmingham is renowned for being a trailblazer in the online learning space. Since then, the university has strived to stay ahead of the digital curve, working with the latest technology to provide a top-tier experience to its growing population of students.
Specifically, the digital education team at the University of Birmingham were keen to see how they could better turn their data into actionable insights which would improve the learning experience for students.
Insights
The university had seen some success in running API scripts to extract data and actionable insights within Canvas LMS, but the process was overly manual, complex, time-consuming and resource intensive. After first seeing the potential of Intelligent Insights at CanvasCon Europe 2024, the digital education team requested an on-site demonstration for stakeholders from across the institution.
Solution
The University of Birmingham selected Intelligent Insights, with the view of achieving the following outcomes:
- Improved quality and timeliness of course content. The team are currently building prompts within the Ask Your Data tool to identify which resources have and have not been created for student modules, improving course readiness for the student.
- Faster feedback for the student, more support for staff. University academic staff have a target to return feedback to students within 15 weekdays. Intelligent Insights helps the digital education team monitor this turnaround time in a scalable way and support academic staff who are not meeting these deadlines.
- Personalised interventions for at-risk students. Intelligent Insights helps teaching staff spot disengaged students within the first 9 days of a course - far earlier than traditional reporting methods allow, helping staff make personalised interventions, keep students on track and prevent dropouts.
Outcomes
Adopting new solutions invariably takes time, but the impact can be significant.
Although it is still early days, the university has seen that Intelligent Insights can add enormous value, and they’re going into the new academic year excited about using it to generate regular reports flagging the need for intervention in both the availability of course content and the timely provision of assessment feedback.
Our wider goals around attracting and retaining students mean that student satisfaction is of paramount importance. The positive impact of successfully implementing Intelligent Insights will help to strengthen our position as a university of choice in a competitive market.
Matt Turner, Head of Digital Education, University of Birmingham
Hear from University of Birmingham at CanvasCon Europe!
Don’t miss the chance to learn more from their experience as an early adopter of Intelligent Insights.