UMBC participates in Learning Analytics (LA) primarily by focusing on student and faculty use of the Learning Management System (LMS). Since 2007, the University has observed that students earning a final grade of D or F use the LMS 40% less than students earning higher grades. While correlation does not equal causation, UMBC has built a "Check My Activity" (CMA) feedback tool that allows students to compare their own activity against an anonymous summary of course peers earning the same, higher or lower grade for any assignment -- provided the instructor uses the online grade book.
The University of Baltimore (UB) is working with Pulitzer-prize winning historian Taylor Branch and the USMCAI to offer the course “Citizenship and Freedom: The Civil Rights Era” in an innovative, online, for-credit format. Unlike MOOCs, this course is based on a seminar format that promises synchronous interactivity. Also unlike MOOCs, this course features a blend of lecture, panels, and real-time Q&A with the virtual audience.