Revealed: Durham modules ranked by student attainment in 2021-2022

This article demonstrates the power of Freedom of Information requests in making institutional performance data accessible to the public. By obtaining module attainment statistics, the university revealed significant disparities in student outcomes across different departments, such as physics and English leading in high grades, while foundation years and Japanese lagged behind. This transparency highlights how open data can expose specific academic trends and potential inequalities in grading standards that were previously internal or opaque. The findings emphasize that openness allows stakeholders, including prospective students and educators, to analyze the effectiveness of various curricula. The data shows that certain modules consistently produce high first-class rates, while others struggle, suggesting that open data can drive accountability and informed decision-making within educational institutions. It proves that when raw performance metrics are released, they become valuable tools for critical evaluation of teaching quality and student support systems. For the open data community, this case is relevant because it illustrates the real-world impact of releasing raw educational datasets. It shows that even non-technical data, when made publicly available, fosters engagement and scrutiny. This encourages institutions to adopt similar transparency practices, knowing that accessible data can reveal important insights about academic success and failure, ultimately supporting a more equitable and informed higher education landscape.

Source: palatinate.org.uk
Published on 2024-06-24

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