Frequently Asked Questions

How often is the Learning Data@JCU updated?

The data in Learning Data@JCU updates nightly.

The information you see in reports shows up to the previous day.

What do I need to know about setting up my LearnJCU site?

Grade Centre

Over 50% of the reports in Blackboard Analytics rely on Grade Centre use. To ensure that your Grade Centre is set up for Blackboard Analytics check the Grade Centre Best Practice for Blackboard Analytics for Learn Guide.

Access to reports in your LearnJCU site

Anyone with access to the Control Panel in your LearnJCU site can view the Level 1 Subject Reports. This includes the roles of Subject Coordinator, Lecturer, Tutor and LearnJCU Site Editor. To check the roles in your LearnJCU site check the Managing Staff Roles in LearnJCU Guide.

What do I need to know about understanding the reports?

Blackboard Analytics classifies information in a particular way to enable comparisons across the university and the reporting of trends.

Content, Tools and Assessment

Blackboard Analytics classifies information in a LearnJCU site as either  Content, Tools or Assessment. The Content, Tools and Assessment Guide provides more information about the specific items in each of these categories.

Activity

Student interactions within LearnJCU are used as a proxy for engagement. When viewing student activity data it is important to consider the many ways that students may engage with LearnJCU, for example, reading a document online compared to downloading the document and reading offline. It is therefore important to consider the various types of activity data too.  Within Blackboard Analytics, activity is recoded as accesses, interactions, minutes and submissions. The Activity in Blackboard Analytics for Learn Guide provides explanations of each of these types of activities.

Merged subject sites

If you have different modes of a subject offered in single merged LearnJCU subject site, Blackboard Analytics selects one mode to enable comparisons. We are currently working the Blackboard to improve the reporting in merged subject sites to enable you to ‘see’ the information and activity for the different modes.

How do I access Learning Data@JCU?

At the moment, staff have access to Level 1 Subject Reports. The reports focus on activity and design of a single LearnJCU subject. Staff can access the reports through Subject Analytics under Student Tracking in the Control Panel of a LearnJCU subject site. See more information on the reports that are currently available.

Why are my reports not working?

Blackboard Analytics relies on Grade Centre use. To ensure that your Grade Centre is set up for Blackboard Analytics check the Grade Centre Best Practice for Blackboard Analytics for Learn Guide.

If your report does not load, let us know! Send an email with the LearnJCU Subject site code (e.g. 15-ED1401_TSV_EXT_SP1), the name/s of the report/s you were trying to load, and the time of day/night when you tried to load the report(s) to the Learning Analytics Specialist.

The Content, Tools and Assessment counts are very high, is this right?

There are a range of reasons that your counts may be higher than you expected. For example, subject sites in LearnJCU contain a number of items that are either hidden from view or available, perhaps there are some items that are hidden from view. Below are some of the reasons why counts may be high.

Content

• Content was copied over from a previous year’s site
• Content that may not be available until a specific time
• Content that is only made available for a specified period, e.g. an online test
• Publisher’s resources can sometimes contain many smaller content items

Assessment

• Assessment includes practice tests and manually created columns in the GradeCentre
• If the class has many group submission points, then these are counted individually

Tools

• A high number of announcements will increase the Tool count
• Blogs, journal and wikis all raise the Tool count due to the nature of their use

Monitoring excess or redundant Content, Assessment and Tools will assist more accurate data to be displayed in Blackboard Analytics, and enable more accurate comparisons to be made. The LearnJCU Guides provide assistance and information on how to manage your LearnJCU site.

Can the report fields be altered?

No, not at this time. The Level 1 Subject Reports provide basic, subject-level content. Future rollout of reports will provide more detailed information.

How do I download a report?

At the top of every report is a small ‘save’ icon. You can click this to nominate the format in which you want to download the report (PDF, CSV, Excel, etc). Staff are expected to treat the reports from Blackboard Analytics with confidentiality, as outlined in the JCU Code of Conduct.

What if I need more assistance with the reports?

A Help Guide is provided for each report – click the Report Help button within the report or access the Blackboard Analytics Guides on this website.

If you have any questions or concerns, or would like further information, please contact the Learning Analytics Specialist for Blackboard Analytics for Learn.