Golden State Today

Before instruction begins this fall, Laci Gerhart will give herself a head start in meeting the more than 900 students she will teach in two sections of an introductory biology course.

The associate professor of teaching in the Department of Evolution and Ecology will review her classes in Know Your Students (KYS), a campus-grown tool that offers UC Davis instructors de-identified data on their students.

"I feel like I get a sense of what they’re doing and where they are," said Gerhart, one of about 90 instructors with access to all the tool’s advanced features. "Know Your Students is most powerful in the large classes that need it the most."

The Center for Educational Effectiveness began developing the web application in 2017 to give instructors more insight into who is in their class and how they are doing, aiming to help instructors make positive interventions to improve equity and inclusion.

The center initially shared KYS with a few instructors during its first years and then made it available to all instructors when classes went remote during the pandemic. Among instructors with basic access, 1,017 have visited the site at least once, and 172 have visited it in the last year. Among those with full access, 76 have been to the site, and 41 have done so in the last year.

This academic year, the center aims to encourage more professors to use it through presentations at orientation for new faculty on Sept. 17, at the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference on Dec. 10, and center workshops as well as new Zoom office hours with the developer.

KYS was developed with a $1 million grant over five years from Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Inclusive Excellence program to build support systems encouraging students from all backgrounds to participate and succeed in science. Marc Facciotti, professor of biomedical engineering, was principal investigator for the grant. "The initial targets [to use KYS] were instructors teaching large, typically introductory courses — courses that can often be barriers to academic progress for many students," he said.

Kem Saichaie, executive director of the Center for Educational Effectiveness, and Matt Steinwachs, lead programmer at the center, highlighted Know Your Students' ability to pinpoint grade inequities. The tool provides aggregate student demographics and academic data at class level while offering ways to examine and reduce inequities at curricular, assignment, and grading levels.

"It’s seen as bold for how much information we’re sharing," said Steinwachs.

The basic version of KYS available to all instructors provides easy-to-read snapshots including number of students; transfer students; academically distressed students; repeaters; average number of quarters or semesters at UC Davis; among other campus-level data. Those who meet with Steinwachs for an orientation session gain access to more detailed de-identified information such as data on first-generation college students; low-income regions; historically underrepresented groups; English language learners; self-identified women majors; number of units taken by students; prior course grade distributions.

Saichaie emphasized that one purpose of orientation is preventing biases confirmation by ensuring responsible use focused on addressing inequities: “We want to make sure instructors understand how to use it responsibly and as a reflective tool informing teaching practices,” he said.

Student privacy remains paramount: Data isn't linked back identifying individual names nor presented where group size falls below ten individuals.

Steinwachs explained KYS evolved from individual data requests received from instructors over time facilitated through collaboration between various university entities ensuring compliance regarding governance/privacy issues taking approximately three years creating initial dashboard iteration utilizing inputs registrar/institutional analysis offices inspired partially California State University Student Success Dashboard/SEISMIC Collaboration efforts tackling STEM education inequality non-inclusion across multiple institutions highlighting uniqueness offered richness granular class-specific insights delivered compared conventional offerings elsewhere within academia landscape “To see this data your course level just not common” observed Steinwachs

Instructors alone exclusively access provided anonymized datasets neither departmental chairs nor administrative figures possessing similar privileges reserving intended solely personal pedagogical enhancement reflective opportunities resultant consultation services/workshops resources enabling practical actionable implementations insights gained further bolstered proactive faculty engagement additional feature requests implementation illustrated vividly example shared instructor feedback integration instance exemplified Gerhart demonstrating immediate applicability effectively enhancing student preparedness continuity subsequent academic endeavors

"Oh! It’s already here," exclaimed Gerhart upon discovering recent addition reflecting continuous development aligned user-driven requirements anticipation readiness embracing technological advancement educational inclusivity enhancement