Advisors at the University of Iowa help students get the most out of their college experience. ICON Indicator gives advisors more data to facilitate productive conversations and identify students who may need more support.

Advisors regularly meet with students to discuss their academic journey but receive limited data about student engagement. The two primary pieces are a list of students who are not attending classes early in the semester and midterm grade reports.

“What intrigued us about the tool was that it provided information between those points of a semester,” says Maureen Schafer, assistant provost and director of the Academic Advising Center.

Designed to enhance the advising process by providing real-time insights, ICON Indicator pulls data from MAUI and ICON activity from the Unizin Data Platform. 

“The current engagement status offers a daily snapshot of a student’s performance and engagement in each course, including gradebook scores, assignment submissions, active days on a course site, and number of materials accessed,” explains Anna Smith, senior analytics specialist for the Office of Teaching, Learning, and Technology. 

The current engagement status compares a student’s scores with peers in the course. If a student appears below a certain threshold, a small bell appears, signaling to the advisor that a more in-depth discussion may be warranted.

Data allows for early interventions

“It can identify students who may need support as early as week four,” explains Ross Miller, lead application developer for ITS Administrative Information Systems. “Giving advisors this data-driven tool can help tailor conversations and give students more time to impact their learning outcomes.”

The team surveyed pilot users to better understand their perceptions and use of the data provided by the tool. 

“The art of advising is about listening to what the student is sharing,” says Schafer. “However, pilot group members stated that in circumstances where the ICON Indicator let them know there might be a concern, the tool encouraged them to explore more questions about engagement in their courses and ICON usage.”

Currently, 60 advisors, who represent all undergraduate college, are piloting the tool in spring 2025. The team will continue to develop it, with the goal to make it widely available to advisors in fall 2025. 

“Through the Unizin Data Platform, we are able to collect data on how students engage with Canvas and other digital tools in ICON,” explains Bill Evanson, director of Enterprise Student Systems in ITS Administrative Information Systems. “ICON Indicator is one way we use those data to benefit our students and support their success.”