Blackboard

Analytics
for Learn
With constrained budgets, increased competition and greater
diversity of the student body, higher education administrators
are forced to rethink how they effectively and efficiently support
student success. Especially in this challenging environment,
the right information at the right time is crucial to positively
impacting student engagement, retention and performance
with fewer resources. Blackboard Analytics for Learn is a prepackaged analytics application that automatically integrates
with the Blackboard Learn platform and leading student
information systems to provide actionable information around
student persistence and learning outcomes.

KEY CHALLENGES:
I mproving Student
Retention
I ncreasing Student
Engagement
 easuring Student
M
Performance and
Progress

Determining
ROI of
Online and Hybrid
Learning Efforts
Measuring Impact of
Online Course Design
Measuring Impact
of Online Teaching
Techniques
 lanning Online
P
Learning Support and
Change Management
 eeting Institutional
M
Standards and Objectives
around student success

Identifying patterns of student success

Blackboard Analytics for Learn was designed with one goal in mind: to help institutions improve student success
by putting real-time information that helps identify patterns of student activity and performance directly into
the hands of those who need to take action. It allows a wide variety of users immediate and customizable
access to data at the school, department, course, instructor and student level. By easily enabling the discovery
of student behaviors that correlate to successful educational outcomes, this self-service application helps
decision-makers focus limited resources on the policies and programs that promote positive student practices.
Academic administrators, deans, department heads, advisors, and others can:
Analyze student activity and performance patterns over time
Identify at-risk student behavior based on usage and performance
Measure student learning outcomes against course grades and learning standards and objectives
Assess compliance with teaching requirements
Monitor and analyze trends to enact or validate curriculum and pedagogical change
Establish and track KPIs through institutional dashboards to measure strategic goals
Provide immediate access to pertinent performance information
Decrease reliance on customized and static reports and queries

Underscoring the value of investing in online learning

Many administrators know that investing in online learning is critical to success in todays competitive environment. Whether your institution is adding an engaging experience to a traditional classroom, or growing fully online
degree programs, decision-makers need solid data to substantiate investments in instructor training, hardware,
software and services. Blackboard Analytics for Learn integrates and transforms data from the Blackboard Learn
platform and leading student information systems so that institutions can now answer questions like:
H
 ow does student performance differ between courses where the LMS is used versus where it is not used?
Is there a difference in student performance between courses where the instructor went through a training
class and those that did not?
H
 ow are our efforts at improving course quality making a difference? Are students performing better in the
higher-quality courses than those that have not yet been reviewed?

Transforming data into information

Identifying students at risk, assessing compliance
with teaching requirements and establishing
and

tracking

institutional

key

performance

indicators require data from multiple sources to

be combined and manipulated into meaningful
information. To solve this problem, Blackboard

is stored, write custom queries against the data,

Selected Metrics and

Key Dimensions:

then organize the information in the requested

Gradebook Scores

format. This process requires significant time

Submissions to interactive
tools like discussions

must access the databases where the raw data

and often begets follow-on requests one report

Session & course logins

and time

creates additional areas for inquiry which then

creates the need for additional reports, consum-

Analytics for Learn offers out-of-the-box integra-

ing additional time and resources.

Tools & content accessed &

time on task

tion with Blackboard Learn and leading student

Blackboard Analytics for Learn puts information

information systems, including Oracle (People-

directly into the hands of those who need it by

Org unit information for

aggregation/comparison

Soft), Datatel (Colleague) and SunGard Higher

offering a variety of user-friendly ways to view

Education. Easy integration is also available to

Term information for

aggregation/comparison

the information:

Academic standing

schools using other student information systems.

By seamlessly integrating multiple data sources,
the Blackboard Analytics for Learn solution minimizes the need for multiple, manual reports and
allows the user to modify, drill down and change
searches as desired.

Providing just-in-time,
self-service access
We often hear from administrators that they
cannot easily access student learning informa-

E
 xecutive-friendly, real-time view of
key performance indicators via
customizable dashboards
A
 dministrative reporting through guided
data discovery with full drill-down capability
into longitudinal and segmented data
O
 perational reporting with pre-built /
distributed and dynamic reports

Faculty rank/tenure status

Selected Delivered Reports:

A
 ctivity exception
reports logins
G
 radebook exception report
S
 tudent performance against
learning outcomes

Jumpstarting data-driven
decision making on campus

O
 rg unit performance against
learning outcomes
S
 tudent at-a-glance

Blackboard Analytics for Learn enables insti-

tion. They often have to engage an already

tutions to start delivering critical and timely

overburdened technical staff member to obtain

information within weeks.

the requested information. This resource then

integration with the Blackboard Learn platform

C
 ourse at-a-glance
M
 ost active instructors

Our out-of-the box

A
 ggregate activity by org unit

and leading student information systems enables

institutional leaders to start taking advantage of
a robust, multi-dimensional data warehouse in

For years weve been seeking

weeks instead of months or years. In addition, we

developed and deploy a proven implementation

ways not just to understand

methodology, and deliver clear and structured

student performance in

documentation that provides customers with

our LMS, not just in a static

semester-by-semester fashion,

visibility into the design and data customization

and configuration process.

but with richness over time

The Blackboard Analytics Suite

and against numerous student

The Blackboard Analytics Suite is a complete,

and departmental attributes.

Blackboard Analytics allows us

packaged analytics application consisting of an

easy to use dimensional data warehouse with
data models, an extensive data transformation

to do so, and do so in a manner

process and pre-built data integration with

that is easy for end-user

leading enterprise resource planning systems,

analysis, extended inquiry and

further investigation.
Kevin OHalla
Chief Information Officer
Grand Rapids
Community College

including solutions from Oracle (PeopleSoft),

Blackboard Analytics for Learn empowers

easy to use and rich data access through a
variety of modes including reports, OLAP
data discovery, and executive dashboards.
CONCEPTUAL SCREENSHOT:

Datatel, Inc. and SunGard Higher Education.

Additional product modules include:

A
 dvancement
A
 nalytics for Learn
F
 inancial Aid
F
 inance
H
 uman Resources
S
 tudent Management

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