Encoura Retention Surveys & Analytics vs Jisc Learning Analytics

Encoura Retention Surveys & Analytics is a paid offering for colleges seeking to identify at-risk students, understand their receptivity to assistance, and connect them with campus resources. Its portfolio includes the College Student Inventory, Mid-Year Student Assessment, Second-Year Student Assessment, and Student Retention Predictor. The College Student Inventory serves traditional undergraduates, transfer students, adult learners, online learners, and graduate students at two-year or four-year institutions. Typically administered after admission, during orientation, in a seminar, or early in a term, it reports motivation, risk areas, receptivity to specific services, and re-enrollment plans using nationally normed data. The Mid-Year assessment examines changing academic and social needs, service-use gaps, and completion plans. The Second-Year assessment covers second-year and transfer students across seven scales, including academic confidence, commitment, and financial security. The Retention Predictor combines analytics with consulting and provides individual and group insights plus risk indicators. Reports summarize classes, subpopulations, and individuals. Encoura describes encryption, role-based access, monitoring, vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, and incident-response safeguards. Pricing is available by request.

Jisc Learning Analytics is a paid web platform for universities using student data to support student success, wellbeing, and regulatory needs. It combines information from multiple sources into configurable dashboards, including module-level views. Staff can examine attendance, online activity, assessment submissions, and other engagement measures to spot changes in learning behaviour. Notifications and reports help identify students who may need support. Attendance monitoring covers on-site and remote participation, and a student web app lets learners view engagement data and check in to teaching or support sessions. Jisc says the upgraded platform integrates with major virtual learning environments, timetabling systems, and attendance solutions. Institutions can request discovery and consultancy to assess readiness, infrastructure, and data through a two-day virtual or on-site evaluation. Attendance geolocation is opt-in at institutional and individual levels, with obfuscated location data stored under more restricted access. Pricing is available on request; the listed plan is an optional extra for Jisc members.