how does course analytics in moodle work

by Rebeka Konopelski 9 min read

Moodle Learning Analytics leverages machine learning to make predictions about future learning success based on students’ past activity.

Full Answer

What analytics does the Moodle module add?

This local Moodle Module adds Analytics, currently supports 3 Analytics modes, Piwik, Google Universal Analytics and Google Legacy Analytics. Please note that this plugin is not yet supported for Moodle 2.8.

What do I need to know about machine learning in Moodle?

Machine learning models such as Students at risk of dropping out must be trained on a site with data . These models cannot make predictions on a site until this is done. Models must be designed and selected to match the educational priorities of the institution. The Moodle learning analytics system requires some initial configuration before use.

What are learning analytics?

Learning analytics are software algorithms that are used to predict or detect unknown aspects of the learning process, based on historical data and current behavior. There are four main categories of learning analytics: descriptive (what happened?)

Do we need more context around each micro-action in Moodle?

Much more context is needed around each micro-action to develop a pattern of engagement. Many third-party plugins also exist for Moodle that provide descriptive analytics. There are also integrations with third-party off-site reporting solutions.

What is Moodle Learning Analytics?

What does Moodle report?

What are indicators in a model?

Can machine learning models make predictions?

See more

About this website

What is analytics in Moodle?

The Moodle Analytics API allows Moodle site managers to define prediction models that combine indicators and a target. The target is the event we want to predict. The indicators are what we think will lead to an accurate prediction of the target.

How do I enable analytics in Moodle?

The Moodle learning analytics system requires some initial configuration before it can be used. You can access Analytics settings from Site administration > Analytics > Analytics settings.

Does Moodle track time in course?

As the name suggests, this Moodle plugin tracks the time each learner spends in a course. It also actively checks that the learner is still present, with an alert window.

How do I track student activity on Moodle?

View Forum Summary ReportOn your course page, select the link to open the forum. The Forum page will open.On the Forum page, select the Actions menu ( ). A drop-down list will open.From this list, select Forum summary report. The Forum summary report page will open listing student activity in the forum.

What is meant by learning analytics?

Generally speaking, learning analytics refers to the collection and analysis of data about learners and their environments for the purpose of understanding and improving learning outcomes. Learning analytics is where big data meets traditional quantitative methods in education.

What can Moodle track?

Moodle can detect cheating in online classes or during online exams through the use of a number of tools like plagiarism scanning, proctoring software or using lockdown browsers. These tools are separately applied by the instructors separately or incorporated as plugins.

Can Moodle see when you open PDF?

They don't, in normal circumstances, get a notification someone looked at a PDF but if they really wanted to they could set it up (I highly doubt they would have in your case).

Can Moodle detect cheating Reddit?

If it is on Moodle without installing any type of proctoring software or program, then NO. However, if you post answers or questions from the exam to Chegg, Course Hero, etc, they will find you and charge you.

Can Moodle take screenshots?

Moodle Proctoring is a Quiz Access Plugin to capture the user's picture via webcam to identify who is attempting the Moodle Quiz. It will capture the picture automatically every 30 seconds and store it as a PNG image. It also captures the screenshot during the quiz.

How can I track my students progress?

Some examples of student-centered tracking include:Homework turn-ins.Objective mastery percentages.Proficiency levels.Quiz scores.Unit test scores.Time spent reading.Behavior.Be creative! Stay in tune with your students!

What is event monitoring in Moodle?

What is event monitoring? Event monitoring allows admins and teachers to receive notification when certain events happen in Moodle. See Events list for examples of events and their levels. Note that students may also be allowed to subscribe to rules if they are given the capability tool/monitor:subscribe.

How can you tell if students are watching videos?

0:4910:34How to grade or track your students watching videos in and out of classYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipI click find it shows me the video results. Now I can look at this video.MoreI click find it shows me the video results. Now I can look at this video.

7 Ways to Get Started with Analytics & Reports in Moodle

Cookie Duration Description; _ga: 2 years: The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report.

Using Learning Analytics in Moodle for assessing students ...

The assessment of students’ performance in online learning environments is a challenging and demanding task for the teachers. Moodle offers several assessment tools. This paper presents a new assessment tool, called Learning Analytics Enriched Rubric (LAe-R). LAe-R is based on the concept of assessment rubrics which is a very popular assessment technique in education.

Moodle Reporting: Tracking Performance In Moodle LMS

Moodle Reporting: What is Available? LMS reports are an essential component of the eLearning process; both for learners and managers. Learning analytics provide teachers with learning trends to provide better education, and general reporting allows managers to report on overarching progress like completion, compliance, and competencies.

User Reports > All Users - Moodle LMS - IntelliBoard Help Center

All Users Reports display a variety of users’ information about their course activity, grades, enrollment methods, time spent, number of visits, etc. There are filters by different indicators, i.e., filtering by course, enrollment date, roles or cohorts. You can find the full listing of All User Reports with a brief description below.

Moodle statistics

Registered Moodle sites. We perform regular bulk checking of sites to make sure they still exist, so occasionally you may see reductions in the count

Overview

The Moodle Learning Analytics API is an open system that can become the basis for a very wide variety of models. Models can contain indicators (a.k.a.

Existing models

Moodle core ships with three models, Students at risk of dropping out and the static models Upcoming activities due and No teaching. Other models can be added to your system by installing plugins or by using the web UI (see below). Existing models can be examined and altered from the "Analytics models" page in Site administration:

Creating and editing models

New machine learning models can be created by using the Analytics API, by importing an exported model from another site, or by using the new web UI.

Training models

Machine-learning based models require a training process using previous data from the site. "Static" models make use of sets of pre-defined rules, and do not need to be trained.

Evaluating models

This is a manual, resource-intensive process, and will not be visible from the Web UI when sites have the "onlycli" setting checked (default).

Overview

If your Moodle site administrator has enabled Analytics, you may receive special notifications called "insights" sent by learning analytics models.

View Insights

Models will start generating predictions at different points in time, depending on the site prediction models and details like the course start and end dates.

Prediction details

The prediction details show which of the indicator values were used in the prediction, and what the student's values for those indicators are. Indicator calculated values that are low and are affecting the prediction are highlighted.

Actions

Each insight can have one or more actions defined. Actions provide a way to act on the insight as it is read. These actions may include a way to send a message to another user, a link to a report providing information about the sample the prediction has been generated for (e.g.

Overview

If your Moodle site administrator has enabled Moodle Learning Analytics, you may receive special notifications called "insights" sent by learning analytics models.

View Insights

Models will start generating predictions at different points in time, depending on the site prediction models and details like the course start and end dates.

Prediction details

The prediction details show which of the indicator values were used in the prediction, and what the student's values for those indicators are. Indicator calculated values that are low and are affecting the prediction are highlighted.

Actions

Each insight can have one or more actions defined. Actions provide a way to act on the insight as it is read. These actions may include a way to send a message to another user, a link to a report providing information about the sample the prediction has been generated for (e.g.

Will I start getting predictions as soon as I enable the model?

Static models do not require training, and will begin to deliver insights as soon as they are enabled (and the circumstances that trigger the model occur). Machine-learning based learning analytics models, such as Students at risk of dropping out, must be trained on your site data before they can generate predictions.

Is there a way to export and import model data between sites?

Model training data can be exported from one site and placed in the model data directory of a new site. This consists of a file of calculated target and indicator values for each sample examined by the model, along with some header information. No personally identifying information is included, but one row per sample (e.g.

Is there a way to export and import the settings of a model between sites?

Yes. Models can be created and tested on one site, and can be exported with weights and imported to a new site. This data does not reference individual users or courses in any way, and can be safely shared with researchers or other sites.

How can I disable Moodle Learning Analytics notifications, or restrict them to certain users, while still enabling models for testing purposes?

Notifications go to users with the "analytics:listinsights" capability in the context of the prediction-- what this means for the Students at risk of dropping out model is that notifications go to teachers in each course. What you can do is modify the "Teacher" role (editingteacher) to remove that capability.

How accurate are the model predictions?

This varies depending on the quality and quantity of site data (including how many activities are in each course and what percentage of the course is conducted online in Moodle). See Using analytics: Review evaluation results for more details on how to review model accuracy.

How can I create my own Learning Analytics models?

New machine learning models can be created by using the Analytics API, by importing an exported model from another site, or by using the web UI. For more information, see Using analytics: Creating and editing models. (Note: "static" models cannot be created using the web UI at this time.)

Why am I seeing the error "Not enough course activity between the start and the end of the course"?

Courses that are used for training the "Students at risk of dropping out" model need to have a minimum of 10 activity logs for user. So if your course has 322 students a minimum of 3220 activity logs between the start and the end of the course are required to consider this course valid for training.

What is Moodle analytics?

Moodle Learning Analytics leverages machine learning to make predictions about future learning success based on students’ past activity. By measuring, collecting and analysing data like cognitive engagement statistics (what content a student has viewed, submitted, or revised), or social engagement statistics (what activities has the student participated in, how has the learner participated in discussions…) we can understand and optimise learning, as well as predict at-risk students and student success.

When is the first Moodle webinar?

The first webinar is on January 28 at 14:00 UTC.

Will I start getting predictions as soon as I enable the model?

Static models do not require training, and will begin to deliver insights as soon as they are enabled (and the circumstances that trigger the model occur). Machine-learning based learning analytics models, such as Students at risk of dropping out, must be trained on your site data before they can generate predictions.

Is there a way to export and import model data between sites?

Model training data can be exported from one site and placed in the model data directory of a new site. This consists of a file of calculated target and indicator values for each sample examined by the model, along with some header information. No personally identifying information is included, but one row per sample (e.g.

Is there a way to export and import the settings of a model between sites?

Yes. Models can be created and tested on one site, and can be exported with weights and imported to a new site. This data does not reference individual users or courses in any way, and can be safely shared with researchers or other sites.

How can I disable Moodle Learning Analytics notifications, or restrict them to certain users, while still enabling models for testing purposes?

Notifications go to users with the "analytics:listinsights" capability in the context of the prediction-- what this means for the Students at risk of dropping out model is that notifications go to teachers in each course. What you can do is modify the "Teacher" role (editingteacher) to remove that capability.

How accurate are the model predictions?

This varies depending on the quality and quantity of site data (including how many activities are in each course and what percentage of the course is conducted online in Moodle). See Using analytics: Review evaluation results for more details on how to review model accuracy.

How can I create my own Learning Analytics models?

New machine learning models can be created by using the Analytics API, by importing an exported model from another site, or by using the web UI. For more information, see Using analytics: Creating and editing models. (Note: "static" models cannot be created using the web UI at this time.)

Why am I seeing the error "Not enough course activity between the start and the end of the course"?

Courses that are used for training the "Students at risk of dropping out" model need to have a minimum of 10 activity logs for user. So if your course has 322 students a minimum of 3220 activity logs between the start and the end of the course are required to consider this course valid for training.

What is Moodle Learning Analytics?

The Moodle Learning Analytics API is an open system that can become the basis for a very wide variety of models. Models can contain indicators (a.k.a. predictors), targets (the outcome we are trying to predict), insights (the predictions themselves), notifications (messages sent as a result of insights), and actions (offered to recipients of messages, which can become indicators in turn).

What does Moodle report?

Moodle provides a variety of built-in reports based on log data, but they are primarily descriptive in nature -- they tell participants what happened, but not why, and they don’t predict outcomes or advise participants how to improve outcomes. Log entries, while very detailed, are not in themselves descriptive of the learning process. They tell us “who,” “what,” and “when,” but not “why” or “how well.” Much more context is needed around each micro-action to develop a pattern of engagement.

What are indicators in a model?

Models can contain indicators (a.k.a. predictors), targets (the outcome we are trying to predict), insights (the predictions themselves), notifications (messages sent as a result of insights), and actions (offered to recipients of messages, which can become indicators in turn).

Can machine learning models make predictions?

Machine learning models such as Students at risk of dropping out must be trained on a site with data . These models cannot make predictions on a site until this is done.

image

Overview

  • Learning analytics are software algorithms that are used to predict or detect unknown aspects of the learning process, based on historical data and current behavior. There are four main categories of learning analytics: 1. descriptive (what happened?) 2. predictive (what will happen …
See more on docs.moodle.org

Existing Models

Creating and Editing Models

Training Models

Image
The Moodle Learning Analytics API is an open system that can become the basis for a very wide variety of models. Models can contain indicators (a.k.a. predictors), targets (the outcome we are trying to predict), insights (the predictions themselves), notifications (messages sent as a result of insights), and actions (of…
See more on docs.moodle.org

Evaluating Models

  • Moodle core ships with three models, Students at risk of dropping outand the static models Upcoming activities due and No teaching. Other models can be added to your system by installing plugins or by using the web UI (see below). Existing models can be examined and altered from the "Analytics models" page in Site administration: These are some of the actions you can perform o…
See more on docs.moodle.org