Increasing Academic Success in Undergraduate Engineering Education using Learning Analytics: A Design-Based Research Project

Abstract

This paper describes the first iteration of a design-based research project that developed an early warning system (EWS) for an undergraduate engineering mentoring program. Using near real-time data from a university’s learning management system, we provided academic mentors with timely and targeted data on students’ developing academic progress. Over two design phases, we developed an EWS and examined how mentors used the EWS in their support activities. Findings from this iteration of the project point to the importance of locating analytics-based interventions within and across multiple activity systems that link mentors’ interactions with an EWS and their interventions with students.