Class sizes in online courses can be huge, but no matter whether your class is large or small, with so much information in the Class Console, it can be hard to know where to start! This article is all about taking action. So, read on for a look at how Sort, and Filter can help you find right where you’re needed and find just the learners you’re looking for.

Sort

You have a whole range of options for how you choose to sort learners. And you can use the toggle to choose whether it is ascending or descending.

Sort filter in the Class Console showing sort options: Name, Progress, Assessed tasks submitted, Assessed tasks marking required, Non-assessed tasks submitted, Non-assessed tasks marking required, Comments, Last session, Started date, Time since last progress increase.

If you sort by Progress, you can spot learners who might be ahead or behind the rest of the class. Those who are behind might need some encouragement to keep going or some help with a study guide to achieve consistent progress. Those who are ahead could do with a quick check to see if they’re a Rushy Rony (rushing through the pages but not really completing the tasks) or a Bored Billie (finds the content too easy) and with some strategic actions to support them (follow the links for ideas).

If you sort by Last session, you can spot learners who might need a reminder to get back into the course.

Last session highlights learners Darren who's last session was 5 days ago.
Darren hasn't visited the course in 5 days, he might need a reminder to help him progress.

And the subtle difference between learners who need a reminder and learners who are stuck somehow. Sorting by Time since last progress increase differentiates between learners who haven’t logged in recently (Last session - seen under the learner's avatar), and those who haven’t completed any new pages or tasks (Time since last progress increase - seen under the progress tile).

Time since last progress increase highlights Billie and Sven who's last progress increase was 5 days ago even though they have recently logged in.

This distinction highlights Billie, who may have gone unnoticed as she has recently logged in and has high progress.

Learners who have recently been into the course don’t need a reminder. They need you to help them get unstuck. Maybe they’re revising content they’ve already done because they’re feeling like they’re not getting it. Or maybe the page they were last on was too difficult and they can’t progress. Either way, they probably need your help.

Of course, Sort also requires you to have a good understanding of the content of your course. For instance, you might expect a lot of learners to have a while with no progress if there is a large assessed task due soon that they’re working on. So be sure to add your layer of human judgement to the data.

Filter

We’ve recently added some more great options for filtering. And you can combine any number of filters to really narrow down the learners or actions you’re looking for.

Filters are: Currently studying (based on learner’s personalised dates), Have a task due in the next 10 days, Haven’t gained their badge yet, Have less than 50% progress, Are not read-only.

The filters here are geared towards simplifying your view (fewer learners to scan) and highlighting where action is needed. As a simple example, you can filter to show those with a task due in the next 10 days.

Two filters in particular are very useful for those who are using learner relative dates (where learners have personalised open and due dates based on when they started the course).

  • Are currently studying this course lets you filter out all the learners for whom the course has already ended. Simple.
  • Learners with a task due in the next 10 days helps highlight learners where you can step in before they forget or are way off track for their assessment.

Using Sort and Filter together

In the ultimate power move, you can also use Sort and Filter together. For instance being proactively focused, in the case of Learners with a task due in the next 10 days, you could add either of these sort options:

Last session + Learners with a task due in the next 10 days to spot learners who might need a reminder email of completing an important task.

Darren hasn't visited the course in 5 days. He might need a reminder about the upcoming assessment.

Progress + Learners with a task due in the next 10 days to spot learners who might not be prepared for the task.

Induja and Sven both have low progress, will they be ready for the upcoming assessment?

In this instance, you can then cast your eye over those learners' non-assessed task responses to make sure they’re on track with their answers and intervene where necessary.

Task results for Induja show that she had three attempts at one task but got it right on the third attempt. The other task she got right on the first try.

Summary

The Class Console puts a lot of information at your fingertips. With large classes, be sure to leverage Sort and Filter to help you surface important actions required and learners that might need your attention.