How to use data within your organisation to inform curriculum development

Live data is playing an increasingly important role during Ofsted inspections. However, it’s not enough to simply collect the data – you need to be actively using it to inform curriculum development and improve learner outcomes.

Over the last decade, learning management systems (LMS) have given organisations more freedom and flexibility on how they deliver learning. Rather than staying tied to traditional teaching methods of repetition and memorisation, training providers now have the tools to broaden their scope and adopt new methodologies.

These include asynchronous learning, which gives learners the flexibility to study on their own schedule (within a set time frame), and andragogical learning, which prioritises process over content (e.g. case studies, role playing and self-evaluation).

Andragogy is also known as Adult Learning Theory. It makes the following assumptions about the design of adult learning programmes, which may prove useful when examining your own curriculum:

• Adults are independent and need to be responsible for their decisions in education
• Adults learn from previous experiences
• Adults engage the most when they understand the value of what they are learning
• Adults tend to gravitate towards learning topics that matter to them and have an immediate relevance to their work or lives
• Adults are motivated by internal factors rather than external coaxes or pressures

Adopting a wider range of teaching methods, like asynchronous and andragogical, has its advantages. Not only can they easily be delivered remotely, but they make learning more accessible to those that have struggled to engage with traditional pedagogical teaching in the past.

How data can provide valuable insight

Data can provide critical insight on which learning methods to adopt in your curriculum. Your chosen platform should have the capability to collect huge amounts of data every day and clearly report on key indicators, giving you a real-time overview of learner progress.

Yet not all providers are making the most of the data available, often because they don’t trust that it’s reliable or they simply can’t report from it. Providers may not be confident in using the data they have because it’s stored in multiple systems, so it’s hard to know whether it’s accurate or up to date.

Read more: Why flexible platforms allow mistakes to creep in

Without accurate data, organisations run the risk of making decisions based on guesswork or false assumptions. This can waste valuable time and resources, with no guarantee that it will move the needle forward on learner support.

To make impactful business decisions based on concrete evidence, it’s vital to use a system that offers a single source of truth on data.

Bud’s data warehouse stores data that is captured from thousands of touchpoints, from every learner, every day. Managers can log into central data dashboards and access accurate, real-time data from any device. Book a Bud demo to see more.

Analysing data to identify the root cause of a problem

Once you’re confident that your data is reliable, you need to be able to interrogate it correctly and ask the right questions to draw out useful insights.

A surface-level analysis will give you quantitative data about events that have already happened, like the number of starts, achievers and withdrawals in the past month. While this information is important, it doesn’t get to the root cause of any problems that have arisen.

A more valuable question for training providers is not simply “how many learners are at risk of withdrawal?”, but “how many learners are at risk of withdrawal, and what trends can we see with specific delivery teams, trainers or employers?”.

This line of questioning, also known as diagnostic analytics, seeks to identify not just the “what” but the “why”. It gives providers a clearer understanding of the root cause of a problem, so they can move towards a more effective solution.

Using qualitative research to find context

Of course, this still isn’t the whole picture. To make truly informed business decisions, senior managers also need to know the context behind the numbers.

Speaking to delivery teams can help determine the cause for trends that have appeared in the data. Go in with a specific question that utilises what you’ve learnt so far, for example: “The data shows that 40% of learners with one employer are lagging behind. Do you know why this could be the case?”.

These conversations may highlight gaps in the training process where people aren’t sure about what’s expected of them, or challenges with time management where learners are struggling to balance workload with the programme.

By combining quantitative and qualitative research, you can translate the data from your LMS into tangible steps forward. This could be reviewing the initial training provided or exploring more asynchronous learning methods, where learners can work on their own schedule.

Access accurate, high-quality data with Bud

The quantitative data collected in your LMS can be invaluable, but it shouldn’t be the sole factor in decisions. Once you’ve identified an issue from the numbers, thoughtful questions are required to enable you to drill down and effectively analyse the situation, reach a solution and provide better outcomes for your learners.

All the data collected on Bud is high quality, accurate and refreshed every two hours, so you can be confident that you’re working from a solid foundation. Bud captures thousands of pieces of data from every learner every day and feeds it into a central data warehouse, giving you full visibility over your organisation’s performance.

The best way to experience the platform is through a consultative chat with one of our friendly experts. Book a demo now or get in touch with us here.