ABSTRACT
Student engagement has never mattered more in college and university education. While the problem of low engagement and underachievement may differ greatly depending on learning contexts their relationship is well established. Increasingly, digital technologies have allowed teachers to utilise actionable insights gleaned from data about learner engagement and performance to influence students’ choices on regulating their learning behaviour towards academic success. In this context, we apply the framework of nudge theory from behavioural economics to analyse how teachers, as ‘choice architects’, subtly influence students’ decisions. Drawing on four case studies from Australasian universities, we analyse the approach taken by teachers to engage with data and their cohorts to produce personalised nudges that target antecedent factors of student engagement. Since these approaches were enabled by implementing three open-source learning analytics platforms, we also discuss the forms of data (both online and offline) that teachers leveraged, the concrete actions derived from these data, and the positive impacts on student satisfaction, support, and academic success. To assist teachers, designers, and managers implement data-informed nudges in their contexts, we present a practical framework that synthesises student engagement and nudge theory in a data-rich environment, as well as a set of principles that have emerged from our teachers’ experience in nudging students for engagement and success.
