Student tracking reporting inaccurate data

Symptoms

The tracking data processing activities which normally occur nightly are not running. This means that new tracking events (mouse clicks, assignment submissions, etc) are not being processed. This only affects the tracking report functionality, not the submission of work in Blackboard.

This may result in:

• "Unknown Persons" appearing in tracking data reports
• Tracking data missing for some students or activities
• Incorrect reports being displayed

Severity

Moderate

May affect teaching staff or students and cause interruption to normal business activities.

User Roles Affected

• Teaching Staff
• Administrators

Resolution

14 August 2008:

We have implemented a Tracking Data fix supplied by the vendor. The Tracking Data processing activities run every morning at 4 am.

The un-known persons already appearing in the tracking data have not been fixed.  We are still working with the vendor on this issue, and are unsure if this can be fixed.

Since implementing this fix we have received some reports of tracking data displaying inaccuratly in some sections. This may include:

• missing student activity data from a section
• additional student activity data reported in another section's tracking data where student is also enrolled
• if a section has additional activity - the file usage report may display file usage statistics for files that may not belong to that section

If you are experiencing problems or have questions relating to tracking data please contact MUSO Support.

Workaround

If staff are concerned and wish to validate if work was submitted on time, or if student claims are genuine, a request can be lodged with MUSO Support for ITS Staff to examine the Blackboard Tracking Data.