Abstract

This paper details an investigation into methods for measuring engagement in open, online, work based learning (WBL). The aim of this research is to define a reliable measure of engagement which can be used to assess the success of WBL courses. This study was carried out within one WBL course, run with 6 cohorts of students. Learning analytics detailing student activity were collated and used to test the following measures of engagement: 1. Total volume of activity per day, 2. Total number of daily participants, 3. Categorising participants by total course activity. The results showed that measure 1 provided detailed trends, but was easily biased by the activity of a small number of participants. Measure 2 showed similar trends, but mitigated the bias present in method 1 and displayed a much lower margin for error. Measure 3 provided insight into engagement trends, but lacked detail and showed a large margin for error. It was found that measure 2 was the most reliable indicator of engagement, and thus of success on a course. This finding allows researchers to more reliably measure engagement in open, online WBL, and can inform similar research in the field of MOOCs.