How Teachers Use Data to Help Students Learn: Contextual Inquiry for the Design of a Dashboard

Although learning with Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS) has been well studied, little research has investigated what role teachers can play, if empowered with data. Many ITSs provide student performance reports, but they may not be designed to serve teachers’ needs well, which is important for a well-designed dashboard. We investigated what student data is most helpful to teachers and how they use data to adjust and individualize instruction. Specifically, we conducted Contextual Inquiry interviews with teachers and used Interpretation Sessions and Affinity Diagramming to analyze the data. We found that teachers generate data on students’ concept mastery, misconceptions and errors, and utilize data provided by ITSs and other software. Teachers use this data to drive instruction and remediate issues on an individual and class level. Our study uncovers how data can support teachers in helping students learn and provides a solid foundation and recommendations for designing a teacher’s