What are Low Stakes Activities vs High Stakes in the Participation by Student export?
In the export of "Participation by Student" from the Learning
Dashboard, the Low Stakes Activities percentage excludes activities
defined as High Stakes (graded quizzes and the My Response activities
linked from the same page as the quiz - these have their own column in
the gradebook with a green checkmark if they are submitted). The total
Activities percentage would always be the same or lower than low stakes
activities. (High Stakes Activities + Low Stakes Activities =
Activities)
Participation Percentage for Instructors
To see the details behind the participation percentage, as the instructor you can go to the Gradebook, click the Expand icon for
desired module at the top, see the columns for for any My Response activities that will show green checkmarks if completed (these
activities in the columns contribute to the Participation Percentage). Then click the Graph icon at the top of the module to access the
Learning Dashboard, scroll down to click the “View Participation in Module by Student” link then scroll down to click the student’s name, click Show Activities for each Learning Objective to see the learning activities. Bold text and a blue circle indicate the activity has not been worked in. These two sets of activities, My Responses and Learning Activities on the pages, added together generate the participation percentage.
What is the "Participation by Student" percentage?
The Learning Dashboard can be confusing especially the term "Participation Percentage". The Participation % is an measure of the percentage of activities (Learn by Doing, Did I Get This, Additional Questions) that the student has clicked-in or "participated in". Low Stakes percentage should exclude the high-stakes graded checkpoints. It is not a measure of completion or scores/mastery. The main intention of the Learning Dashboard is to assess the overall class's progress to provide a feedback loop to, for example, adapt topics addressed in the classroom time.
When the Gradebook is collapsed, the columns show the participation percentage as a bar chart of blue filling up the white blocks so this is a quick way for you to see how many of the activities the student clicks in without going to the Learning Dashboard. The expanded Gradebook columns show completion of the Additional Questions and Quizzes but not the participation in the inline activities that makes up the Participation Percentage.
Some instructors use the participation percentage as a grading component. Giving points for the Participation Percentage is like giving points for homework or participation. If you use participation percentage as part of the course scoring model, be prepared for students to ask exactly how to figure out their scores and that teaches them how to game the system by using the "Available Practice" link from their Syllabus to go straight to the activities bypassing the actual page material (though it may not matter if they can then demonstrate mastery in graded assessments) - I've put these steps below for your reference. It is probably best that they do not know that the activities are marked as completed by only clicking in them and not answering all the questions.
How do instructors access the Learning Dashboard?
You can access the Learning Dashboard by clicking the graph icon at the top of each Module where you will first have the option of going through a short tutorial. The Learning Dashboard can also be accessed from the Manage Course page.
Participation Percentage by Student
The percentage of activities (not questions) the students have worked in (not completed) can be found in the Learning Dashboard as follows:
From the Gradebook, click the Bar Graph icon at the top of the Module to open the Learning Dashboard.
Scroll down to "Participation and Help Details".
Click the Students tab at the top to see the participation percentage by student.
Overall Class Understanding of Concepts
Clicking the graph icon at the top of each Module from the Gradebook provides the list of activities, how many students participated, and the Percentage Complete for the class. The class's record of incorrect and correct answers lets instructors see at a glance which concepts the class is grasping and which concepts are elusive. Note that it is possible that 0% participation means that students chose not to answer the questions because they felt confident in the material.
Participation Percentage is NOT a Completion Percentage
The individual student answers to the questions are not available. The practice activities are designed for the student to review the feedback and self-correct so in the end all of their answers should be correct. The individual should be self-guiding through the activities and may choose to not complete additional questions based on a self-evaluation of their learning as why spend more time answering similar questions if they already know the material. This is why the system reports only if a student has "worked in" not if they have completed an activity. This information is not available to the students but may be helpful to you in that the participation percentage is not a completion percentage. Additionally, though a student may not click in a learning activity that doesn't mean they haven't visited the page and studied the material on the page and determined that they already know the material.
Participation Percentage for Instructors
To see the details behind the participation percentage, as the instructor you can go to the Gradebook, click the Expand icon for
desired module at the top, see the columns for for any My Response activities that will show green checkmarks if completed (these
activities in the columns contribute to the Participation Percentage). Then click the Graph icon at the top of the module to access the
Learning Dashboard, scroll down to click the “View Participation in Module by Student” link then scroll down to click the student’s name, click Show Activities for each Learning Objective to see the learning activities. Bold text and a blue circle indicate the activity has not been worked in. These two sets of activities, My Responses and Learning Activities on the pages, added together generate the participation percentage.
Below is how a student can check to see which of the activities still need to be completed. Given these steps, it is possible
for students to not click through the actual course pages but take the shortcut of just clicking the activities if they are trying to increase their participation percentage. There is no way for the instructor to know that they did not click through the course material pages.
Participation Percentage for Students
The participation percentage tracks participation in My Response
activities, Learn By Doing and Did I Get This practice questions,
Checkpoints and Labs. The Participation Percent tracks whether these
activities are participated-in, not the correctness or grade.
To see what student “My Response” activities still need to be completed:
1. From the My Courses page, click My Scores.
2. Under the desired Module, click the Expand button as needed to see the detail.
3. See any columns that are blank and click the link at the top of that column, click View Assignment.(Examples would be My Response or Additional Questions that are also linked from the quiz page in the module typically.)
Note: Not all courses or modules have self-evaluation activities.
To see what student learning (Did I Get This and Learn by Doing or other) activities still need to be completed on the course pages:
1. From the Syllabus: Scroll down to the desired module and click the Available Practice link then Show Activities for each Learning Objective.
2. Click the page number in the right column of bold (uncompleted) activities to view the activity.
My question is not answered here, what to do?
Please email us at oli-help@cmu.edu so we can answer your questions. We exist only to help.