Learning Management Systems Data and Analytics

Owned by Eric Jansson
Last updated: Jan 25, 2023 by Jason HoekstraVersion comment
3 min read

Contents

Goals

The goals of the SIG are as follows:

  1. Identify and prioritize primary use cases for LMS data within the Ed-Fi community
  2. Provide input into and feedback on the Alliance's work to deliver a Starter Kit focused on LMS data and on the LMS Toolkit more generally
  3. Provide direction on the overlap of the current Gradebook data domain with the evolving LMS data model and review the Gradebook model generally.

Meetings

Context

Usage of Learning Management Systems (LMS) in K12 has been rising steadily for years. More recently the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an explosion in adoption and usage of LMS's by school districts.

Given this growth – both in adoption but also in the sophistication of classroom usage – the value of LMS data has also increased, and many in the Ed-Fi community are looking to use this data to understand and improve student performance. Most conversations to date have emphasized that the greatest value will come from combining LMS data with data from other sources, particularly student information systems and assessment systems.

To assist the community in getting started on this important work, the Alliance has seeded two efforts, one of which is well underway and another which is nascent:

  1. In mid 2020, the Alliance began work on the LMS Toolkit, a suite of tools to extract data from LMS systems (extractors), load that data into the Ed-Fi platform (loaders), and prepare that data for use alongside SIS and assessment data (harmonizers).
  2. In 2021, the Alliance will be delivering a Starter Kit focused on LMS data. This kit will provide a narrow use-case focused analytics solution and/or visualization that uses LMS and possibly data from other systems

Detailed Goals

A detailed version of the goals is as follows:

  1. Identify and prioritize primary use cases for LMS data within the Ed-Fi community
    1. These use cases may be inclusive of or use data from other systems (e.g. SIS or assessment data), but the use cases must be focused and not overly general.
    2. Use cases should have sample visualizations if possible, in order to guide future community roadmap work.
  2. Provide input into and feedback on the Alliance's work to deliver a Starter Kit focused on LMS data and on the LMS Toolkit more generally
    1. The Alliance’s plan to deliver a “starter” visualization that uses LMS data was announce on the Q1 roadmap update. On starter kits more generally, see: Starter Kits
    2. It is quite likely that this use case is one identified in Goal #1, but there could be some variation based on the scope of effort planned by the Alliance, delivery schedules, etc.
  3. Provide direction on the overlap of the current Gradebook data domain with the evolving LMS data model and review the Gradebook model generally. Resolve questions such as:
    1. Are there changes needed to Gradebook to make it function well in API-based exchanges?
    2. Should the gradebook data in the LMS data domain and current Gradebook be combined? Or do they represent a natural sequence of data from a more raw "assignment" to a formal grade?
    3. Is new guidance for usage of Gradebook needed?

Members

  • Eric Jansson
  • Noah Bookman, California Core
  • Traci Clarke, Instructure
  • Ed Comer, Student1
  • Katie Favara, Texas Education Service Center - Region 11
  • Shane Foster, Instructure
  • Gabrielle Garonzik, Double Line
  • Jim Goodell, Quality Information Partners
  • Ryan Ryan (Unlicensed), Idaho Digital Learning Alliance
  • Charlie Hartman, Core Districts
  • Adam Love, MSD Decatur Township Middle School
  • Mark Masterson, Learning Mate
  • Brian Mullin, Beaverton School District
  • Mario Palmisano, InnovateEdu
  • Sunil Pasupuleti
  • Timothy Pritchett, Monroe County Community School Corp.
  • John Raub, WI DPI
  • Andrew Rice, Education Analytics
  • Kristi Richburg, NEFEC
  • Molly Stewart, INsite
  • Patrick Yoho, InnovateEdu