UCI •Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching & Learning •Office of Information Technology •UCI Compass
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UCI Spark

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About the PilotInstructor Toolkit

News and Updates

What is Spark?

Spark is a student-centered, mobile-first web application combining rich student data, Canvas data, and UCI student support resources into a secure, timely, and personalized dashboard aimed squarely at helping students succeed in their desired academic pathways.

Built in-house by UCI, Spark incorporates broad campus input from students to faculty to staff, informing the design, roll-out, and resources provided by the tool.

The UCI Office of Information Technology is developing this tool under the sponsorship of the Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching & Learning, under the leadership of Vice Provost Michael Dennin.

Components of Spark

Spark aims to empower our undergraduates with personalized data about their learning journey. By coupling interim LMS information with curated links to UCI resources, Spark encourages students to take actions that support their academic goals. We hope to “spark” students into enriching their undergraduate experience through self-efficacy and partnership with student support resources across the campus.

About the Project

How It Works

Using activity data from UCI's Canvas learning management system, Spark will provide our students with a previously unavailable view into their progress during the quarter. Spark is centered on student activity within their courses, allowing students to understand how their interactions with course content throughout the term correlate with their class peers, and pairs this information with encouraging links from Spark’s Empowerment Library to connect students to campus resources to help them meet their learning goals.

Empowerment Library & Workgroup

The Empowerment Library Workgroup is a broadly representative group that included a mix of leadership and on-the-ground staff from Student Affairs, Undergraduate Education, and OIT. It served to identify and curate resources that would be most helpful to students in the Spark tool, populating the initial version of the Empowerment Library (now called the Spark Library).

The Spark team is grateful to the many members of the Empowerment Library Workgroup for their time and effort in identifying and curating resources for the Spark tool.

Research Ready

Through a partnership with the UCI MUST Project and the UCI School of Education, Spark is informed by research, driven by research, and designed to support future research.

  • Purpose-built research data mart to facilitate timely data sharing
  • Research projects focused on effective spark design
Data & Tech Stack

Designed from the ground up to be shareable and extensible, Spark leverages common technologies to streamline

  • Authentication via Shibboleth
  • LMS & SIS data via the Unizin Data Platform
  • Leverages common technologies, including Microsoft SQL Server, Google Big Query, Microsoft .Net, Shibboleth, and more
  • Mobile-first web application built in Microsoft .NET using Tailwind CSS framework
  • Modular architecture to support varying campus needs

Outreach & Opportunities

For students:

During the Pilot Year, we will be distributing a series of surveys to gather feedback on the usefulness and usability of the tool. These surveys are a key part of our iterative design process and will help us improve the tool for future students.

In Spring Quarter 2024, we held a series of one-on-one usability testing sessions and several in-person focus groups to gather feedback on UCI Spark. In Summer 2023, OIT held multiple user interviews with students to gather initial requirements, thoughts on the student experience, and more. These interviews have formed a key foundation to the UCI Spark project. We are grateful to the students who participated in these sessions and shared their thoughts on the tool.

For instructors & staff:

The Spark cross-functional team has held dozens of meetings over the past 18 months for UCI Spark. Groups we've met with include:

  • Various Student Affairs units
  • Various Division of Undergraduate Affairs units
  • Academic Senate - Council on Teaching, Learning, and the Student Experience (CTLSE)
  • Academic Senate - Council on Research Computing & Libraries (CORCL)
  • UCI Compass student success analytics group
  • Undergraduate Council
  • UCI Libraries
  • (Upcoming) Provost's Cabinet

In addition, the Spark team has presented the project at several events, including:

If you would like to schedule a time to chat with our team, please email spark@uci.edu.

Partners

Campus Sponsor

Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching & Learning

Project Champion

Office of Data & Information Technology

Resource & Research Partners

  • Associated Students of UCI (ASUCI)
  • UCI Compass
  • OVPTL Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)
  • OVPTL Division of Teaching Excellence & Innovation
  • UCI Academic Advising
  • UCI Student Affairs
  • UCI Housing
  • Wellness, Health, and Counseling Services
  • DUE Learning & Academic Resource Center
  • UCI School of Education
  • UCI MUST Project
  • Compass Teaching & Learning Analytics

Technology Partners

  • Office of Information Technology
  • OIT Student Success Technologies
  • OIT Data & Information Management
    • OIT Cloud Services
  • Unizin