An algorithm developed by The Open University is “able to predict a student’s final grade within just a week of their starting their course”.
Now “at least two Russell Group universities” are considering how they can adapt the technology, which looks at factors including how enthusiastically students participate in online learning forums to improve their results, the Financial Times reported on 27 July. Meanwhile in the US, Dartmouth College tutors have “trialed an app on students’ phones that measures how long they spend sleeping, studying, partying and exercising”. How about that as a metric for the teaching excellence framework? If graduate earnings are used as a measure of teaching quality, then a metric on student sleeping habits merits consideration too.
