Suzanne Lazaroo
25 September 2018: The University of Canberra’s award-winning InterFace application is one of the institution’s arsenal of new tools supporting progressive, adaptive learning.
Unique to the University, it uses learning analytics to provide both students and staff with relevant, real-time data and feedback on their learning and teaching.
Recently, InterFace won the Universities Admissions Centre Award for Excellence in Student Engagement at the Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM) 2018 Best Practice Awards. The awards were sponsored by Campus Mail.
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InterFace allows UC students and staff to provide feedback and gauge progress in real time.
The University’s Deputy Director of Projects and Innovation, Information and Technology Management Rebecca Armstrong said that the platform allows the University to expand feedback capabilities and build on their implications in a way no one else in the sector is doing.
“Using InterFace, students have the ability to see how they’re going in their units in real time, as well as to see how they can do better,” Ms Armstrong said. “Their feedback to the University helps us to be more effective in our teaching.”
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) and Vice President Professor Nicholas Klomp said that since the platform went live in 2015, a number of universities have approached the University of Canberra to understand how the platform was built, and whether it could be used by their institutions.
“I take great pride in these requests, because recognition from our peer institutions proves that InterFace is truly sector leading,” he said.
Using InterFace, a student can track their own progression within a unit, course and degree, as well as in relation to coursemates.
Feedback on units, courses and educators can be provided, and the InterFace Student Experience Questionnaire (ISEQ) reports indicate students’ satisfaction levels.
“We currently have an ISEQ response rate of 36 per cent, which is really good. InterFace enables our students to have a distinctively digital experience, and engage in their journey,” Ms Armstrong said.
But wait, there’s more – the platform will even offer suggestions as to how a student can be more successful in their studies.
Unit convenors can get a snapshot of their unit cohort, check on how each of their students are performing, and see their levels of engagement and satisfaction.
Probability graphs indicate how many students may benefit from extra support, allowing for targeted, tailor-made solutions to be quickly formulated.
When an educator sees that a student is struggling, they can recommend a range of student support services provided by the University, including study skills support and counselling. Data from InterFace has also been used to inform these support services, according to student needs.
Educators can adapt teaching methods mid-unit, according to the data provided. “Benefits have been seen across the teaching portfolio, with an increased response rate and more timely student satisfaction data,” Professor Klomp said.
Then there’s InterFace X, the executive-level dashboard that captures data to paint the big picture, as well as making individual course and unit data available at a click. It can view how each faculty is performing in relation to student retention and engagement.
The team behind InterFace is constant evolving it, and retraining its algorithms to adapt to student and staff needs more effectively. The project team enhances the platform every year.
“When we first rolled InterFace out in 2015, it was more of a reporting tool,” Ms Armstrong said. “In 2016 we increased the platform’s interactivity and made the design more user-centric.
“The next step will be to do something for the program directors of new courses to ensure students have support across their whole journey with UC.”
Tim Grace, Learning and Teaching Development Manager, said that the rapid uptake of InterFace analytics has been an extremely beneficial tool for translating student feedback into positive messaging.
“In the early weeks of the InterFace roll-out, one student responded with feedback that remains a testament to our purpose,” said Mr Grace.
“They said: ‘I just wanted to say that I find InterFace to be a great idea. I really appreciate being able to give feedback on my units on a weekly basis as I think it will allow lecturers to review each week of their unit. I also really appreciate being able to see my progression in each unit and my progression in my degree as a whole.”
InterFace’s recent award win is a testament to the project’s commitment to student support, cross-University collaboration, and a credit to the team involved. The University wishes to sincerely thank those involved in the project since its commencement in 2015.
