Aust'n universities use Wi-Fi data to track student engagement

Australian universities have taken to using Wi-Fi routers to track how students are responding to their curricula.

By tracking students in this way, the University of Melbourne was able to analyze websites which students accessed to determine what parts of the syllabus students were interested in and what parts failed to maintain their attention.

Gregor Kennedy, vice-chancellor of education innovation at the University of Melbourne, said the practice, known as "learning analytics", was an important way to improve the student experience.

"It provides valuable feedback and helps us understand how the design of our curriculum is working so we can modify it," Kennedy told Fairfax Media on Friday.

"There's a benefit in simply understanding student learning processes and outcomes."

While Australia is the leader of the practice worldwide, privacy experts have warned that the institutions need to receive consent from students before they collect data.

"Some students don't want to be tracked. If people want to be tracked then that's okay, but if they don't, they shouldn't be," Australian Privacy Foundation vice-chair Kat Lane said.

The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and University of Sydney have taken the practice a step further, using learning analytics to identify students who are likely to drop out of their courses.

The two institutions use data gathered about their course engagement during university classes, in conjunction with demographic data, to identify the students and alter the curriculum so that they were more engaged.

"We believe this approach has significant potential to improve the student experience," Dr Abelardo Pardo, a senior lecturer at the University of Sydney, said on Friday.

The universities also used tracking data gathered by Wi-Fi routers to determine which physical spaces at the university were being used frequently and which could be better utilized. Enditem