Queensland University of Technology: Project Description

Primary Outcome Examined (select one or more)

(No) Student Learning: Assignment

(No) Student Learning: Course

(No) Student Learning: Major

(No) Student Learning: Degree

✓ Student Engagement

✓ Student Success

(No) Academic Intimacy/Rapport

(No) Enrollment

✓ Retention

(No) Completion

(No) Graduation

(No) Articulation

(No) Graduates' Career Success

(No) Testing (e.g., GRE, MCAT, LSAT, CAAP, CLA, MAPP)

(No) Other (please describe)

Primary Library Factor Examined (select one or more)

(No) Instruction

(No) Instruction: Games

(No) Instruction: One Shot

(No) Instruction: Course Embedded

(No) Instruction: Self-Paced Tutorials

(No) Reference

(No) Educational Role (other than reference or instruction)

(No) Space, Physical

(No) Discovery (library resources integrated in institutional web and other information portals)

(No) Discovery (library resource guides)

(No) Discovery (from preferred user starting points)

(No) Collections (quality, depth, diversity, format or currency)

(No) Personnel (number and quality)

✓ Other (please describe)

Individual Library academic study support consultations

Student Population (select one or more)

✓ Undergraduate

(No) Graduate

(No) Incoming

(No) Graduating

(No) Pre-College/Developmental/Basic Skills

(No) Other (please describe)

Discipline (select one or more)

(No) Arts

(No) Humanities

(No) Social Sciences

(No) Natural Sciences (i.e., space, earth, life, chemistry or physics)

(No) Formal Sciences (i.e., computer science, logic, mathematics, statistics or systems science)

(No) Professions/Applied Sciences

(No) English Composition

(No) General Education

(No) Information Literacy Credit Course

✓ Other (please describe)

Undergraduate students from across all faculties

AiA Team Members (select one or more)

(No) Assessment Office

(No) Institutional Research

(No) Teaching Faculty

(No) Writing Center

(No) Information/Academic Technology

(No) Student Affairs

(No) Campus Administrator

✓ Library Administrator

(No) Other Librarian

(No) Other (please describe)

The other team members were Student Success Program and eLearning Services

Methods and Tools (select one or more)

(No) Survey

(No) Interviews

(No) Focus Group(s)

(No) Observation

(No) Pre/Post Test

(No) Rubric

✓ Other (please describe)

Data sources and data dashboards

Direct Data Type (select one or more)

(No) Student Portfolio

(No) Research Paper/Project

(No) Class Assignment (other than research paper/project)

✓ Other (please describe)

Student referral and consultation data and Blackboard (Learning Management System) hits

Indirect Data Type (select one or more)

(No) Test Scores

✓ GPA

(No) Degree Completion Rate

(No) Retention Rate

✓ Other (please describe)

Blackboard hits, referral date, consultation date(s)

What was the project's primary inquiry question?

1. The project aimed to measure engagement of students who are experiencing significant academic challenges. We had the following questions:

   Do students that attend the Library’s Academic Skills Adviser consultation service achieve an increase in GPA compared to students that are referred but do not attend?

   Are referred students engaging with their unit’s Blackboard (Learning Management System/LMS) site?

• How does the project align with your institution’s priorities and needs?
• Why did you choose the outcome and library factor as areas to examine?
• Why was the team composition appropriate?

1. This project aligns with Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT’s) key strategic focus on student success and retention. Our project focused on bringing together and analysing data from selected departments relating to referrals, Library Academic Skills Adviser (ASA) consultations and Learning Management System engagement of students that experience significant academic challenges. This data had not previously been brought together centrally. Our AiA team comprised one library staff member, two staff from the Student Success Program and one staff member from the eLearning Services department, who all have an interest in student success and retention. Although not officially part of the team, two staff from Finance and Resource Planning provided invaluable technical advice and assistance.

• What are the significant contributions of your project?
• What was learned about assessing the library’s impact on student learning and success?
• What was learned about creating or contributing to a culture of assessment on campus?
• What, if any, are the significant findings of your project?

1. The process to identify, define, ingest data into the data warehouse and create online reports was complex and took a significant amount of time. Therefore the data analysis was only possible towards the end of the project. This project has enabled us to set up a process that combines data from disparate systems to create meaningful reports that will allow us to monitor and measure the impact of our services and investigate opportunities for program improvement.

   The findings indicate that students that are referred and attend an ASA consultation on average achieve academically better than students that are referred and do not attend, particularly for first year students. There are significant variations in Learning Management System (LMS) engagement for referred students compared to the rest of the students in a unit. Referred students generally access the LMS either much less or more frequently than other students in a unit.

• What will you change as a result of what you learned (– e.g., institutional activities, library functions or practices, personal/professional practice, other)?
• How does this project contribute to current, past, or future assessment activities on your campus?

1. As the data analysis was conducted towards the end of the project, there is scope for further analysis including at the course, unit and identifier level. The Library and the Student Success program will work on identifying specific courses and units for future engagement with academic staff. This project adds to the growing body of data on student success and retention around the university, and the results will be shared with other support for learning areas at QUT. The project team members will use the processes and knowledge established through this project to look at bringing in other data for analysis and to answer other research questions.

Please list any articles published, presentations given, URL of project website, and team leader contact details.

1. Joanna Logan
   Quality and Planning Manager
   Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Library
   GPO Box 2434 | Brisbane | Qld | Australia | 4001
   email: j2.logan@qut.edu.au
   Ph 61 7 3138 1613

Student engagement and retention is a key strategic priority for QUT. The Library’s Academic Skills Adviser consultation service provides support for students experiencing significant academic challenges. Our project aimed to bring together data to investigate engagement by students referred from the Student Success Program. A dashboard was created with referral and attendance data, Grade Point Average and Blackboard (Learning Management System) hits.

Filename
QUT_AiA_poster_20160617.pdf	Measuring engagement of students who are experiencing significant academic challenges