Using Course Success Data to Focus Your Improvement Efforts
By Catherine Ford, Program Director for Educational Development, Minnesota State
What do I do once I get my course success data? What does this data tell me? How does it inform my practices in my courses? How do I know where to start?
Many faculty want to improve student success but aren’t sure where to begin. The Faculty-Specific Course Success Report provides a simple, individualized view of course success data that can help identify where additional exploration may be warranted. Rather than providing answers, the report provides content the faculty can use to guide deeper investigation through close-to-practice data collection. The Faculty-Specific Course Success Report helps faculty decide where to focus their limited time and attention; close-to-practice data helps faculty understand that area more deeply while employing a perspective of continuous improvement and success for all students.
Learn more about the Faculty-Specific Course Success Report and how to access it in this month’s Academic Technology Tip.
What the Report Can Do
The Faculty-Specific Course Success Report provides faculty with an opportunity to look at student success trends across courses over several years at a high level. It helps identify patterns and potential disparities. Gaining access to course success data is a critical first step, but it is just that – a first step. Think of the report as a flashlight, not a diagnosis. It highlights where you may want to look more.
Reflection: Notice, Focus, Learn
Course success data can help highlight where disparities exist, but meaningful improvement requires a deeper understanding of what students are experiencing within a course. As you review your course success data, resist the urge to immediately explain what you see. Instead, begin by noticing patterns, identifying areas that warrant further attention, and considering what additional information would help you better understand the student experience.
As you review your data, consider the questions below to help narrow your focus and identify a course, student group, or pattern you would like to better understand. Think of the Faculty-Specific Course Success Report as a strategy to focus your attention.
Notice Questions
- What stands out to you?
- Do you notice any patterns or trends across years?
- Which student groups appear to have different outcomes in this course?
- Are the patterns consistent, increasing, or decreasing over time?
Focus Questions
- Where are the greatest opportunity gaps?
- Which course shows the most persistent gaps across years?
- Which course feels most actionable or within your sphere of influence?
- Which course should you investigate first?
- What aspect of the course would you like to learn more about?
Learn Questions
- What questions does this data raise for you?
- What might you want to understand better about students’ experiences in this course?
- What assumptions are you making about the causes of these outcomes?
The Faculty-Specific Course Success Report is designed to help faculty notice patterns and identify where to focus. Once a course or question emerges, close-to-practice evidence can help faculty learn more about the experiences, practices, and course elements that may be shaping student success. This initial review and reflection hone your focus on a course and eventually to a teaching and learning practice.
Moving From Course Success Reflection to Close-to-Practice Data Collection
Course level data helps identify where to look, while close-to-practice data helps understand why. Meaningful improvement often begins with curiosity rather than certainty. By starting with course success data and following the questions it raises, faculty can focus their efforts on areas where they have the greatest opportunity to learn, adapt, and support student success.
Once a faculty member identifies a course of interest, the next step is to gather evidence that is closer to the learning experience itself. These data sources can provide insights into student experiences, course design, and instructional practices that are not visible in success data alone. To learn more about close-to-practice data collection strategies, visit the March 2026 Educational Digest. The scenario below also provides an example of how a faculty might transition from course level success data to informed, actionable change in the classroom.
By combining reviews of course success data with reflection and collection of close-to-practice data, faculty can move beyond noticing disparities to developing evidence-informed strategies that support student success.
Close-to-practice data might include:
- Student surveys
- Mid-semester feedback
- Focus groups
- Assignment submission patterns
- LMS participation data
- Analysis of student work
- Student interviews
- Classroom observations
- Reflection notes from instructors
- Feedback from tutors or support staff
A Scenario to Consider
Drafted with help from Microsoft Copilot
Maria teaches five different courses. When she opens her Faculty-Specific Course Success Report, she notices that most of her courses have relatively similar success rates across student groups. One course, however, stands out. Introductory Biology has lower overall success rates, and the gap between student groups has remained relatively consistent over several years.
At this point, Maria does not know why this pattern exists. The report cannot tell her that. Instead, it helps her decide where to focus. Rather than trying to improve everything at once, she chooses Introductory Biology as a starting point.
Next, Maria begins asking questions: What are students experiencing in this course? Where might students be encountering challenges? Which assignments, activities, or course policies deserve a closer look? To answer those questions, she gathers close-to-practice evidence such as student feedback, course artifacts, and her own observations. The course success data helped her identify where to look. The close-to-practice data helped her determine what might be happening and what she could try next.
Access Your Faculty-Specific Course Success Report
By Scott Wojtanowski, System Director for Educational Technology and Development, Minnesota State
For the last few years, the NED has been inviting campuses to a yearlong cohort Advancing Student Success through Equity by Design. In this work, NED Equity and Inclusion Coordinators partner with faculty leads at participating campuses to analyze student success data from their own courses and examine close-to-practice teaching. At the same time, campus administrators from these institutions collaborate to identify institution-specific ways to support this work systemically.
A key element is faculty having access to disaggregated course success data. Because campuses vary in data reporting maturity, the program was looking for an approach to provide faculty access to their data while respecting local data sensitivities. A solution in Power BI was created that allows instructors, using a standard Microsoft 365 license, to securely view courses success data from their own courses only.
Faculty-Specific Course Success Report
This report is intentionally limited to an instructor’s own data, with no comparisons across peers, departments, or institutions. It serves as a starting point for faculty to identify potential disparities in student outcomes.
The report will only display for an individual who has been listed as an instructor of record for a course in the last five years.
How to Access:
Step 1: Navigate to the Power BI app in Microsoft 365 and select Get Apps.
Step 2: Select Organizational apps to filter for Faculty-Specific Course Success Report
Step 3: Access your course success report.
Use Accessibility Checkers Early
Turn on accessibility checkers when you start Microsoft applications like Word and PowerPoint. It works like a spell check, notifying you of areas that might be problematic for people with disabilities or anyone using assistive technology. Learn more.
View more digital accessibility tips.
Introducing YuJa Panorama: New Accessibility Tools for Faculty and Students
By Scott Wojtanowski, System Director for Educational Technology and Development, Minnesota State
We are pleased to announce that YuJa Panorama is now available within D2L Brightspace to support accessibility and to enhance the usability of digital course content.
For faculty, Panorama automatically scans course materials and provides actionable recommendations to improve accessibility. While accessibility scores can be helpful in identifying potential issues, faculty should use them as a guide rather than a definitive measure of course accessibility, as instructional context and content purpose should also be considered.
For students, Panorama generates alternative formats of course content, making it easier to access materials in the format that works best for their individual needs and preferences.
Look for YuJa Panorama webinars on the NED Events Calendar this fall.
Connect with your campus D2L Brightspace Admins for more details.
Email the Network for Educational Development
View past editions of the Educational Development Digest.
Visit the NED Events Calendar to view upcoming educational development opportunities. Visit the NED Resource Site for recordings of previous webinars and additional resources.
