Abstract:

University graduates need the disposition to embrace opportunities to learn, and the knowledge to engage with ill-structured, contested, socio-technical problems. It is also imperative that graduates can communicate and argue clearly in their writing. This project proposed to assess the learning outcomes of the pilot of two learning analytics approaches tuned to these qualities, called CLARA and AWA, in the newly introduced Masters Research Project (capstone) in the UTS Business School.

This project assessed the learning outcomes of the pilot of two learning analytics approaches: CLARA and AWA. CLARA measures those aspects of a student’s learning disposition that are traditionally difficult to quantify – mindful agency, hope and optimism, sense-making, creativity, curiosity, collaboration, belonging, and orientation to learning. AWA is an automated textual analysis tool that detects rhetorical metadiscourse: how scholarly argumentation is presented. It assists students to inspect the rhetoric and argumentation of their own writing thereby improving their ability to self-assess their writing. This research was conducted with a master capstone subject in an Australian university that involves 34 students from a broad field of management majors including tourism, events, sport, human resource, supply chain, arts and creative industries and management programs. Our approach provides a new way to better prepare UTS business graduates to effectively develop their disposition to embrace opportunities to learn, and the knowledge to engage with ill structured, contested, socio-technical problems. The pilot tested these learning analytics as new forms of evidence for Graduate Attributes. At UTS, each course has a course-specific graduate profile which reflects the mission of the university and relates to the particular professions and disciplines addressed by the course. The purpose was to assist UTS graduates to develop the disposition to embrace opportunities to learn, and the knowledge to engage with ill-structured, contested, socio-technical problems. Pre and post surveys show that students experienced improvements in Sense Making, Belonging, Collaboration, and Creativity. Students enjoyed the rapid, formative feedback from these two learning analytics which helped them to build the key competencies that UTS values e.g. critical and creative thinking, communication skills, collaborative skills, and technical competencies.

Keywords:

Learning analytics, post graduate, graduate attributes, learning power, metadiscourse.