# Monitoring Students at the University: Design and Application of a Moodle Plugin
## 1 Introduction  
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs [[https://ec.europa.eu/environment/sustainable-development/SDGs/index_en.htm](https://ec.europa.eu/environment/sustainable-development/SDGs/index_en.htm)]([https://ec.europa.eu/environment/sustainable-development/SDGs/index_en.htm](https://ec.europa.eu/environment/sustainable-development/SDGs/index_en.htm))) lists a number of social challenges to which universities now have to respond. In a changing world, one challenge is the creation of inclusive, innovative, and reflective societies where Information and Communication Technology for Inclusion (ICTI) and New Information and Communication Technologies (NICT) will find a place, especially in university teaching. The effectiveness of these resources used in the teaching-learning process has recently been demonstrated in some studies [1; 2; 3]. However, other studies have shown that approximately 48% of teachers are not using those same resources efficiently [4; 5]. This aspect is a challenge for research into technological innovation in university teaching. The ultimate objective is to improve the effectiveness of student learning--effectiveness that is based on the acquisition of skills related to the practical implementation of conceptual and procedural contents learned within the university environment, so that they can be efficiently applied following graduation. Another challenge is course abandonment amongstudents and approaches to lowering dropout rates. Specifically, in Spanish universities drop-out rates from degree courses are approximately 18.72%, while in the rest of Europe dropout rates are between 8%--in Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Austria--and around 21% in the United Kingdom [5]. These figures equate to an economic expense of more than 1500 million Euros per year, or approximately 6000 Euros per student. The report on Spanish universities [4] prepared by Crue Universidades Espanolas (Crue Universidades Espanolas, a non-profit association formed of a total of 76 Spanish universities (50 public and 26 private), is the main interlocutor on behalf of the universities with the central government and plays a key role in all regulatory developments that affect Higher Education in Spain. [[http://www.crue.org/](http://www.crue.org/)]([http://www.crue.org/](http://www.crue.org/)).) stressed that efforts should be made to reduce drop-out rates by increasing performance and academic success rates. Furthermore, it was also concluded in this report [4] that academic performance can be directly related to the efficiency of teaching performance.  
Along these lines, the application of NICTs to teaching in blended learning environments is a challenge for university managers, although their application could in all probability increase the quality of educational systems [5]. Quality standards agencies (e.g., ENQUA (European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education) [6], ANECA (Agencia Nacional de Evaluacion de la Calidad y Accreditacion) [7], and ACSUCYL (Agencia para la Calidad del Sistema Universitario de Castilla y Leon) [8]) have proposed the implementation of different evaluation protocols that, among others, consider the quality of teaching methodologies, evaluation procedures, and teaching strategies within these environments.