Engaging online students through peer-comparison progress dashboards
Open accessAbstract
Purpose Students studying exclusively online face the challenge of gauging their progress in relation to that of their disparate peers. The purpose of this paper is to describe the creation of a student progress “dashboard” in an online Masters programme, and the perceived effectiveness of the tool for engaging students. Design/methodology/approach Tableau® visualisation software was used to create a dashboard displaying cohort comparison data comprising metrics relating to the continuous assessment components of the Masters programme. An anonymous questionnaire gauged students’ perceptions of the dashboard. Findings Feedback from students (n=137) suggests the dashboard improved their motivation, incentivising change in study behaviours, and sense of belonging to an online community of learners. It also acted as a conversation catalyst between staff and students, whereby students more readily engaged in dialogue with their personal tutor. Practical implications Distance learners are more likely to feel isolated and can become demotivated, which contributes to typically higher levels of withdrawal from online programmes vs those delivered on-campus. Tutors may consider communicating progress data as dashboards to enable online students to monitor their academic progress alongside that of their peers, as a motivational tool in an otherwise disparate group of learners, and to reduce feelings of isolation by reminding distance learners that they are part of a larger online community. Originality/value This paper shares student and tutor perspectives on the use of dashboards to increase online students’ motivation, and examines whether the benefits of a peer-comparison dashboard are reserved for high-achieving students.
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- Authors
- Smith, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Smith, Paula
- ORCID
- Smith, Paula
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 2019-05-02
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 38-56
- ISSN
- 1758-1184 (ISSN-L)
- 2050-7003
- OpenAlex
- W2945266817
- Cited by
- 19
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2
- FWCI
- 2.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education (publishedVersion)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Online and Blended Learning
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Online Learning and Analytics
- Social Sciences › Education › Student Assessment and Feedback
- Keywords
- online students, peer comparison, student motivation, distance education, student isolation, sense of belonging, personal tutors, student-teacher interaction, student withdrawal, academic progress monitoring
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