Understanding Learning Estimates

The Learning Estimate is a model that predicts how well a student will do on a given learning objective in a summative assessment. The model gauges the difficulty level of the content being assessed, and then assigns the learner a Low, Medium, or High estimate based on their performance to date.

• Student performance on formative practice activities provides data for Learning Estimates.
• A Learning Estimate for each learning objective is generated for each student and this is what drives the Learning Dashboard data.

FAQs

What is being measured in the categories?

What is being measured is the probability that the student’s ability on the learning objective is at least as good as the level of the assessment.

Why display categories rather than numbers?

Current categories are more meaningful than numbers given that the predictions are being made based on the limited number of questions per learning objective that is practical to ask in an online course—and the number and difficulty of questions often varies from assessment to assessment within a course.

What is taken into account for this measurement?

The model figures out the difficulty level of the content being assessed, and the categories measure a learner’s ability relative to that content.

How do I interpret the colors on the Learning Dashboard?

Red: Does not have the ability based on the level of the assessment

Yellow: More likely than not to have the ability based on the level of the assessment

Green: Highly likely to have the ability based on the level of the assessment

If there is not enough data about the individual to make a prediction, the color will be gray.

What does the color say about ability? 

If the likelihood that the student has the ability is < 50% it’s red.

If the likelihood that the student has the ability is 50 but < 85%, it’s yellow.

If the likelihood that the student has the ability is 85%, it’s green.