Learning Resources

Digital Content Management Platform Adds Student Usage Analytics

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 06/30/16

An application that helps colleges identify and catalog online resources has added analytics functionality designed to help instructors understand how much students are "engaging" with the digital materials. Intellus Learning, which has found pickup especially in institutions that use a lot of open educational resources, is intended to pinpoint digital assets that fit specific curriculum objectives and match student learning preferences. So far, the company reported, it has indexed more than 45 million online learning resources, including articles, books, videos and other types of digital objects. Schools use the program to discover and tap those resources available specifically in their own collections.

According to the company, the new features generate data in real time about how and when students are using specific online content. Faculty and instructional designers can then use that information to optimize the curriculum.

At California State University Fresno affordability has driven the school to adopt Intellus' platform to help faculty "use OER and digital content more effectively," said Vice Provost Dennis Nef in a prepared statement. "Most faculty and instructional designers have little understanding of how students navigate or respond to individual content items. The Intellus analytics layer brings us one step closer to unbundling content by enabling us to curate and select only from resources that are both instructionally relevant and also highly engaging for students, and better understand how students use that content."

Indiana University intends to use the new functionality to better align course goals and design to "industry best practices," added Matt Gunkel, a group manager at the institution's e-Learning Design & Services operation. The Intellus platform, he said, provides instructors with "invaluable insights that can directly inform course design and improve course quality over time."