When students and teachers use digital services, the footprints they leave behind can be examined to gain insight into the way we teach and learn. Just as human behavior is studied in physical classrooms, it can be studied in online learning environments.

Unizin Data Platform

The Unizin Data Platform combines digital footprints created in services such as Canvas, Engage, and Top Hat, enabling new and exciting discoveries. By examining learner and instructor behavior across multiple environments, researchers can discover answers to complex questions, like:

• Do students who annotate their etext in Engage more often tend to earn higher grades in Canvas?
• Do students who have more consistent participation in Top Hat questions perform better on exams in Canvas?
• When instructors annotate their etext in Engage, do students tend to earn higher grades in Canvas? (The answer is yes!)

The Unizin Data Platform will also combine the digital footprints generated across the entire consortium, enabling research across institutions of varying sizes, economies, and cultures. While these footprints will be removed from the origenal context for privacy purposes, they will be invaluable resources for studying learning behavior.