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Using Course Engagement in a FlatWorld Homework Course (Instructor)
Using Course Engagement in a FlatWorld Homework Course (Instructor)
Emma Anderson avatar
Written by Emma Anderson
Updated over 2 months ago

This article explains how to access and use FlatWorld's Course Engagement tool on the FlatWorld Homework platform. If you do not have a FlatWorld Homework course you will not be able to access the tool on the Homework platform.

There is also a version of FlatWorld's Course Engagement tool which is available on the main FlatWorld website. This version can only be accessed if you are using FlatWorld's textbook integration with your Learning Management System (Canvas, Brightspace/D2L, Blackboard, Moodle, or Sakai), and information on accessing it can be found here. Courses that do not use either FlatWorld Homework or a FlatWorld Textbook integration do not have the Course Engagement tool available.

Accessing Course Engagement through Standalone FlatWorld Homework

To access the Course Engagement from a standalone course, you should begin in your FlatWorld Homework course, then select the "Engagement" tab at the top of the page:
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A screenshot of a FlatWorld Homework course. One assignment is shown, and the third tab, which reads "Engagement" is highlighted at the top.

This will take you to the Course Engagement for your course where you will be able to see data about a variety of student activities:

Accessing Course Engagement through Learning Management System integrated FlatWorld Homework

If your Homework course is integrated with your Learning Management System (LMS) you can access the Course Engagement by opening a FlatWorld assignment inside of your LMS. If it is set to open in another window you should click on that link to open the assignment. Once you have done this, you will see that you have automatically been taken to the "Assignment" view. Clicking "Course" at the top of the page will take you to the Course view instead:

A screenshot of an integrated FlatWorld Homework assignment. A red box highlights the word "Course" at the top of the page, and an arrow points to it from the words "Select the Course view instead of the default Assignment view".

There you can click on the "Engagement" tab to open the Course Engagement view of your course:

Screenshot of Course Engagement in FlatWorld Homework. A red box highlights the "Engagement" tab. An arrow points from the words "Select the Engagement tab to open Course Engagement once you have switched to the Course view" to the tab header.

Available Information

The following information will be displayed in the Course Engagement when appropriate (i.e. books without videos may not show Video Count, etc.):

  • Most Recent Access

    • The most recent date when the student accessed the online textbook.

  • Days Accessed

    • The number of days when the student has accessed the textbook. E.g. if a student has had access to the textbook for a week, and opened Chapter 1 on Monday, Chapters 2 and 3 on Wednesday, and Chapter 1 on Saturday, and otherwise did not access the text they would be shown as accessing the book on 3 days.

  • Annotation Count

    • The number of annotations the student has made in the online book.

    • This counts both highlights and notes.

  • Flashcards Viewed

    • The number of flashcards the student has viewed in the "Study Tools" section of the online book.

    • Counts both flashcards that have been viewed in "Practice" mode:

      A screenshot of the self-study Flashcards tool in a FlatWorld textbook. The flashcards are in Practice mode and the word "Practice" is highlighted near the top of the image. A key term is shown on a flashcard with options to "Restart" go to the "Prev" card, go to the "Next" card, and "Flip" the current card.

      and "Test" mode:

      A screenshot of the self-study Flashcards tool in a FlatWorld textbook. The flashcards are in Test mode, and the word "Test" is highlighted near the top of the image. A definition is shown along with a space for students to enter the term associated with it and a "Submit" button.


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  • Quiz Question Attempts

    • The number of self-quiz study questions that the student has answered in the textbook.

    • Note: This does NOT correlate to how many questions a student may have answered on assignments you have set them, including in FlatWorld Homework. It refers ONLY to the self-study questions embedded in the online text, and student answers/grades on these questions are not stored.

  • Search Count

    • The number of searches the student has performed in the online textbook.

  • Section Count

    • The number of sections a student has opened.

    • Each section in the textbook is only counted once per day, and only if it was open for at least 15 seconds.

  • Videos Viewed

    • The number of videos a student has watched in the online textbook.

    • Video views are only counted if the student has watched at least 75% of the runtime of a video. Each of the following would count as one 'view' of a 1 minute video:

      • Student watches 45 seconds straight of the video.

      • Student watches 30 seconds, pauses, and watches another 15 seconds.

      • Student watches the same 15 seconds of the video 3 times.

      • Student watches the entire video from start to finish once.

Downloading Course Engagement Information

To download a CSV file containing the Course Engagement information for your course you can click the Export Data (CSV) button, which is found underneath your student's information:
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A screenshot of the Course Engagement page with the Export Data (CSV) button highlighted with a red box and an arrow pointing to it. The button is underneath the student information.

Limits of FlatWorld's Course Engagement

There are limitations to what the Course Engagement can capture; only student activity in the online book is included, not time students spend reading a downloaded or printed book. Additionally, each student's knowledge base coming into a class is likely to be different, which is likely to impact how much time students spend in their text and whether they read it in depth.

Because of these factors, FlatWorld does not recommend using the Course Engagement information as a graded element of your course, but rather as a way of giving you context about how your students are interacting with the textbook. It can provide an avenue for suggestions for students who come to office hours looking for advice on learning the material as well as a general sense of how students are engaging with the course materials.

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