Frequently Asked Questions
Why isn’t my course showing insights?
- At least one Harmonize topic must conclude before Engagement Insights will begin displaying data and predictions for the course.
- Setting due dates or creating milestones on Harmonize topics is the best way for Engagement Insights to know when a discussion will conclude.
Why are Risk Rankings showing as not available?
- More students may need to participate in Harmonize discussion topics or there may be some topics and students that should be excluded from Engagement Insights.
- Check for Harmonize topics where students aren’t required to participate and mark them as excluded from Engagement Insights.
- Check and make sure students that have dropped the course are no longer listed as enrolled.
- Check back later on to see if additional student activity enables predictions to be shown again.
- Even if Engagement Insights isn’t displaying Risk Rankings for students, you can continue to use the Activity Over Time and Outreach Log tabs.
Why isn’t a topic listed as active?
- A Harmonize discussion topic will only be listed as active after at least one student has started participating in it.
Why is a topic listed as concluded?
- A Harmonize topic will be listed as concluded once the due date or the final milestone due date has passed.
- If no due date is set for a discussion, Engagement Insights will estimate when a discussion has concluded based on a student participation tapering off.
What does Risk Ranking mean?
- A student’s Risk Ranking is the predicted likelihood they will exhibit low participation in a given Harmonize topic compared to their past participation and that of the their classmates.
- The Risk Ranking shown in the student list is the maximum Risk Ranking among the student’s active Harmonize discussion topics.
Why is a student showing a particular Risk Ranking?
- Each student’s Risk Ranking in a given topic is generated based on combination of two sets of factors:
- The student’s participation and the participation of their classmates in closed Harmonize discussion topics
- The student’s participation and the participation of their classmates to date in the active Harmonize discussion topic
- Review the lists of ongoing and improved concerns for a Harmonize discussion topic in the Active Topics tab for the student.
What data is included in a component?
- Engagement Insights groups numerous data points from student activity in Harmonize topics into 5 main categories:
- Requirements: How consistently a student completes all Harmonize topics and any configured milestones
- Quantity: How many posts and comments a student contributes to Harmonize topics
- Timing: How early and how often a student accesses and participates in Harmonize topics
- Content: The complexity of a student’s posts and comments in Harmonize topics
- Connectedness: How many peers a student is interacting with in Harmonize topics
Is one component more important than another?
- No one component is more important than the other as Engagement Insights monitors data points for all components continuously.
- Engagement Insights utilizes a complex analytical model to form predictions about student participation and that model evolves over time as more is learned about student interactions in Harmonize discussion topics.
What does a particular ongoing or improved concern mean?
- See this article for additional details on ongoing and improved concerns.
Why did an ongoing concern go away or switch to an improved concern?
- Areas of concern for a student will change as the student and their classmates participate in a Harmonize discussion topic and as the topic draws to a conclusion.
Why am I still seeing a student that has dropped the course?
- Students will continue to appear in Engagement Insights as long as they are listed as enrolled in the course by the LMS.
- If a student has dropped the course, but they are stilled listed as enrolled, please check with your institution’s LMS support team to correct this.
Why does Engagement Insights list a student as at-risk when they have done well in other aspects of the course?
- Engagement Insights can only make predictions based on students’ participation in Harmonize discussion topics and not other parts of the course such as quizzes, tests and traditional assignments.
How up-to-date is the data on the Engagement Insights page?
- Every time the Engagement Insights page is opened, the page will fetch the latest data it can for the course.
- Engagement Insights runs on a regular schedule in the background so there is a small amount of lag (on the order of minutes) between when students participate in Harmonize discussion topics and when that activity is incorporated into predictions.
Why is a student showing an On-Track or Low Risk Ranking when they haven’t participated in an active discussion topic yet?
- Engagement Insights may not list a student as at risk on a Harmonize topic based on how much time is left until the discussion will conclude and at what point in past discussions the student began participating.
Why does a student have a higher Risk Ranking in some active topics but not in others?
- Risk Rankings are Harmonize discussion topic-dependent, so they will vary depending on how and when the student participates in each Harmonize topic.
What does Exceeds Peers and Below Peers on graphs in the Activity Over Time tab mean?
- Calculations generated for a student by Engagement Insights are always relative to the activity from every student in the class.
- Because of this, metrics from students in one course cannot be directly compared to students in another course.
Why does the same student have different Risk Rankings in different courses?
- Risk Rankings are unique to each student in each course.
- Because students in each course may participate differently based on the course structure, instructor involvement, schedule and size, all predictions are based solely on the participation by students in that course.
Why is a student at a particular Risk Ranking when they have participated a certain way in a discussion?
- Risk Rankings are dependent on when and how students participate in an active Harmonize discussion topic and how that participation compares to their activity in past topics as well as the participation of their classmates in both past and active Harmonize topics.
What Harmonize resources are included in the calculations?
- Engagement Insights currently only utilizes student participation in graded and ungraded Harmonize discussions topics in a course.
- Other student activity in Harmonize Polls, Chat, and Q&A boards is not currently considered in predictions.
Why is a student given a high Risk Ranking when they completed all milestones?
- A student’s Risk Ranking in a Harmonize topic is based on many factors, not just whether they completed milestones.
- The complexity, volume and connectedness of their contributions to the Harmonize topic and how that compares to their classmates will also have an impact on their Risk Ranking.
What should I do for students I know will consistently have a high Risk Ranking?
- If you do not want a student to be included in the suggestions list on the Engagement Insights page, you can click the Exclude from Insights reporting checkbox under the student’s name.
- This will suppress the students Risk Ranking and keep the student out of the Current Outreach Suggestions list.
- Excluded students will continue to be accessible on the Engagement Insights page and can be re-included at any time.