iSEAL

Press Release

Purpose

iSEAL (intelligent System for Education, Assessment, and Learning) is a curriculum management and learning analytics system tailored to unique requirements of the University of Minnesota Rochester’s (UMR) Center for Learning Innovation’s (CLI) highly integrated curriculum. iSEAL replaces traditional single course within a semester delivery systems such as Moodle, Blackboard, and D2L with a system delivers the entire curriculum allowing students to access course modules as needed. In addition, the learning analytics component of iSEAL collects a large dataset of student interaction with the curriculum for research into student learning, future data mining, and creation of individualized learning plans.

Development status

iSEAL began as a research initiative led by UMR Vice Chancellor Claudia Neuhauser and a team of U of M Computer Science and Engineering graduate students. Utilizing the framework developed by these graduate students, a team of UMR based web developers have built and implemented, in consultation with UMR CLI faculty and Vice Chancellor Neuhauser, iSEAL. An initial limited deployment was made in Spring 2010, with version 1.0 being deployed in Fall 2010. The current version, 3.1, was deployed in January 2013.

Version 3.1 components and features

iSEAL is organized into courses, which comprise modules, that are made up of learning objects. Modules and learning objects can be added, suppressed, reordered and revised on an ongoing basis.

Version 3.1 contains the following features:

• Enhanced Curriculum Management
  • Library citation links to avoid copyright infringing uploads
  • Authorship system allows faculty to collaborate on content creation
  • Publishing and visibility settings to define student and faculty access
  • Content revisions tracked to enable retrieval and review of previous versions
  • Module editing lock / overwrite prevention
  • Advanced content search by course, keywords, tags, authors and access permissions
• Student / Faculty / Course Profiles
  • Student and Faculty profiles stored in iSEAL
  • Student and Faculty homepages showing relevant course/grade information
  • Calendar on homepage shows all upcoming events and assignments
  • Course section records tied to curriculum, instructors, enrollment
  • Data imported from University’s central student database
• Classroom Response System (“Clickers”)
  • Leverages student laptop program to replace Turning Point or other devices
  • Presents questions to students, responses and histogram generated in real time
  • Data collection across multiple presentations of questions
  • Spreadsheet export of results
• Student/Faculty Interaction Logging
  • Simplified “check-in” of student using tutorial center or other interaction
  • Faculty log details of visit during downtime
  • Students and Faculty can view past visits
• Student and Class Gradebooks
  • Weighted categories
  • Ability to assign separate due dates to different sections within a course
  • Option to accept online file submissions
  • Option to upload grades from a spreadsheet
  • Support for group assignments
  • Computes running totals including only graded assignments
  • Students see graded assignments, list of assignments upcoming with file dropboxes
  • Each instructor’s gradebook for a course only shows the students in their section(s)
  • Instructors may choose from several filters and display options
• Quiz / Assessment Tool
  • Scores automatically tied to the gradebook
  • 5 question types: numeric, file upload, short answer, essay and multiple choice
  • Curriculum materials may be inserted into questions
  • Automatic computer grading of answers
• Online IRB Consent Form
  • Students may opt into or out of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved research, or review their current status, at any time

Version 3.2 and beyond

Working in consultation with the CLI faculty, the following features are currently in the planning stages:

• Ability to view archived versions of curricular materials from previous semesters
• Additional curriculum authorship controls
• Data mining and data analysis tools
• Improvements to the clicker and quiz functionality

Accessing iSEAL

Students and Faculty with access privileges can log in at iseal.r.umn.edu.

More Information

• Press Release: University of Minnesota Rochester (UMR) received a 2012 Tekne Award from the Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA) for its innovative intelligent System for Education Assessment and Learning (iSEAL).
• eBook chapter iSEAL: An Integrated Curriculum in Its Natural Habitat available via Cultivating Change in the Academy: 50+ Stories from the Digital Frontlines at the University of Minnesota in 2012.
• 2011 Quality Fair poster and slides.
• 2012 Academic Technology Showcase poster.
• Email umrweb@umn.edu with questions.