Course analytics for quality design: metadata, interpretation and skills

Analytics at the course design level can provide the evidence required by the Higher Education Standards and TEQSA thatprocesses exist within institutions to ensure compliance andthe provision of quality education to their students (Australian Government, 2014; Oliver, 2011). This paper describes themethodology developed through action research in the Facultyof Business at Charles Sturt University to collect and analysemetadata about courses and subjects. This methodologyproduces information that feeds into a course review processto enable course managers to make decisions about coursedesign and review that seeks to improve quality and provideevidence of compliance. The underpinning determinationsincluded what data should be collected, what analysis wasneeded to interpret the data, and what skills the analystsneeded. Analyst skills of greatest value have includedexpertise in language analysis and expertise in the practice ofconstructive alignment with an ability to analyse assessmentpractices and policies. In practice, it was found that analystswithout discipline-specific knowledge were well-placed toprovide this broad overview of courses and subjects. As themethodology continues to be developed, automation of someof the analysis procedures will further streamline the coursereview and design process and also provide the potential foreven greater depth of analysis. As higher education moves intothe future and new concepts are developed, action researchwith course analytics is ideally placed to reveal the type ofdata, tools and skills needed to undertake data collection andprocessing to ensure that quality learning environments aredeveloped and maintained into the future.