DASS provides insights at the New Academic Practitioners’ Programme (NAPP)

The New Academic Practitioners Programme (NAPP) was held on 26-28 July 2023 at the Mont Fleur Conference venue in Stellenbosch. The Data Analytic for Student Success (DASS) project team was part of a session on day two on 27 July 2023. The session had 19 academics from various faculties from the University of Cape Town. At the session, the DASS contextualized the Know Your Course/ Students (KYC/S) reports and the development stages of the reports; the team also did an exercise with the attendees to find out how students are performing and variables that affect student performance and shared recent activities and a short background about the DASS.

The DASS provided a follow-up workshop on 5 September 2023 to the same group that attended in July. The session was tailored for the courses participants convene or teach. It was important for the DASS to introduce the Know Your Course/Students (KYCS) reports to provide a comprehensive understanding of the reports and help the new academics understand their course and students with the hope of improving student success.   

The session assisted the academics in reading and understanding the reports based on the feedback they provided in the first session in July. These reports provide course conveners with comprehensive insights into the enrolled students, the course's historical achievements, and valuable diagnostic information. By including a section on the 'achievement gap,' the reports promote equity and enable course conveners to address disparities among students based on several factors. During this session, the team provided additional details about the reports and instructions on their use. The DASS project team hopes the academic will use the reports to get actionable insights that help students succeed.