Data sources

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Within the Digital Apprenticeships project we have been reflecting on the data sources that we would need to extract data from in order to undertake relevant analytics and also display on a future provider or employer dashboard.

When it comes to apprenticeships there are similar kinds of data that can be gathered about non-apprenticeship learners. However some of the sources of this data may not be similar. We are also aware that in many of our member organisations different systems and processes are used with apprentices than with other learners.

The following are potential data sources from the provider:

  • Registration system
  • Attendance monitoring
  • Student Records (MIS or SIS)
  • VLE
  • CMS
  • Library Systems
  • Progress checker (eg Promonitor)
  • e-Portfolio
  • Assessment planner
  • Target settings
  • Web Analytics
  • Tutor reports
  • Quality reports
  • e-Book platforms
  • Video Server

Some of these may be in the same system, but what is important is understanding how to extract data from these systems in a format that can then be stored in the Learning Data Hub (the new name for the Learning Records Warehouse).

The following are potential data sources from the employer

  • HR System
  • Employer LMS (or VLE)
  • Employment register
  • Health & Safety

We know talking to colleges that they are generally not allowed access to employer systems, which is understandable. Though what we need in this project is not access to the systems, but the extraction of data from those systems into the Learning Data Hub.

The following are potential data sources from the apprentice themselves:

  • Social media
  • Blogging
  • e-Portfolio
  • Student Activity
  • self-declared data

As with other systems, we are not looking to access these, but for the data from them to be gathered into the Learning Data Hub.

Some of this data will be static, or generally static, whilst other data sets will be constantly changing and updating on a regular and irregular basis.

Considering we can define the requirements on how this data should be structured, then it won’t matter which systems the provider, employer or apprentice uses, the data can be extracted and added to the Learning Data Hub.

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Once the data is in the hub then we can start to analyse the data and see what we can learn and help the apprentice on their journey.

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