EDUCAUSE | Analytics

Using Analytics at UMBC: Encouraging Student Responsibility and Identifying Effective Course Designs

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 21:26:33 +0000

Higher education invests considerable resources into technology for academic purposes, but understanding whether those instructional technologies improve learning is often a difficult question to answer. Although rates of adoption and other measures can indicate activity, the core issue of learning impact is not as simple to demonstrate. This bulletin describes efforts at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) to understand and apply learner analytics to answer this question. We began by looking for correlations between LMS data and student final grades and then considered what an institution might do with predictive information about the likelihood of academic success. We also wondered whether examining student activity might help identify effective teaching practices and practitioners and thereby influence the design of future courses.

Citation for this Work: Fritz, John. “Using Analytics at UMBC: Encouraging Student Responsibility and Identifying Effective Course Designs” (Research Bulletin). Louisville, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, April 30, 2013, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

CETIS Analytics Series: Case Study, Acting on Assessment Analytics

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:13:25 +0000

In this JISC publication, authors Shelia MacNeill and Dr Cath Ellis, from the University of Huddersfield, explain Dr. Ellis' interest in learning analytics and how she and colleagues are making practical use of assessment data both for student feedback and overall course design processes.

Data Analytics

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:28:06 +0000

Building Organizational Capacity for Analytics

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 22:12:43 +0000

Optimizing student success is the “killer app” for analytics in higher education. Intelligent investments in optimizing student success garner wide support and have a strong, justifiable return on investment (ROI). Moreover, improving performance, productivity, and institutional effectiveness are the new gold standards for institutional leadership in the 21st century. Enhanced analytics is critical to both optimizing student success and achieving institutional effectiveness.

This report provides information about how leading institutions in higher education and vendors are building capacity in analytics to improve student success.

Analytics: Changing the Conversation

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:27:38 +0000

The third in a three-article EDUCAUSE Review series exploring analytics.

Podcast: Core Data Service 2012 Results

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:08:37 +0000

Speaker:

Leah Lang, Senior IT Metrics and Benchmarking Analyst, EDUCAUSE

Where does IT stand today? In this session we'll examine the state of IT in higher education using key metrics from the 2012 EDUCAUSE Core Data Service survey. We'll look at important trends as well as similarities and differences across the various types of institutions that completed the core data survey. The session will conclude with a discussion of emerging directions for the CDS.

Music: "New Pop Wave" by sebastian6

EDUCAUSE Podcast Sponsor

Macro Analytics: Getting in the Game

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:32:28 +0000

This session will focus on macro analytics, or using expectations to bring about change. This simple-to-apply yet difficult-to-master concept will help attendees gain an understanding of how analytics should be used. There is a growing acknowledgement among leadership that the use of "targets" is trending toward ineffectiveness and will soon no longer be an acceptable tool for motivating, encouraging, or inspiring change. Macro analytics provides leadership with a new norm: "expectations." Expectations are how we currently lead when we truly care about the organization; incorporating them into our improvement efforts is a logical and healthy step toward success.

Faculty Reporting Systems: Expectations vs. Realities

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:02:05 +0000

Faculty activity reporting systems are used to collect data regarding academic endeavors for promotion, merit, and reporting purposes. Recent attention on accountability, accreditation, and analytics is generating pressure to use the stored data for new purposes. The presenters will engage the audience in a dialogue surrounding the challenges of balancing the needs and cultures of particular disciplines versus the overall needs of the institution; governing and coordinating the overall activity reporting process; gaining buy-in to ensure that data is collected and used with faculty consent; and entering and exporting data through both manual and programmatic means.

ECAR Research Tour: The Year in Review

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:32:20 +0000

Where does higher education stand in terms of analytics maturity, and what actions are needed to take it to the next level? How does your institution fare in providing students with the technologies that matter most? What are the best practices for assessing IT user satisfaction, fostering collaboration, and implementing value measurement initiatives? The EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) can answer these questions and more by sharing key findings and practical recommendations from its recent research portfolio. Join ECAR on a tour of action-oriented results from past work, and learn about future research initiatives.

Using BI to Identify Revenue and Resource Reallocation

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:32:17 +0000

Like most institutions of higher education, Miami University is facing increasing financial pressures and demands. Miami University has decided to develop a new budget model that will result in the generation of new revenues, improve resource reallocation, and produce greater operating efficiencies. This initiative requires a greater level of data granularity and transparency than exists with the university's ERP system. The institutional analytics team and a cross-functional user group designed, developed, and deployed a model that leverages technology to assist business managers in their analyses to make informed and directional decisions about their operations.

Understanding and Managing the Risks of Analytics

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:32:11 +0000

This presentation will offer an introduction to the major risk categories faced by a higher education institution considering investments in time, energy, and money in analytics work. Under the right circumstances, decision making can be enhanced by the tools and techniques of analytics; large data sets, analytics engines, and new data visualization techniques have considerable potential to enhance both student learning and institutional business intelligence. However, careful consideration must be given to the risks of such investments for those in institutional leadership roles as well as the risks associated with data and information governance, compliance, and quality.

Leadership and Learning Analytics

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:36:07 +0000

Learning analytics enables a new level of data-driven decision making for the purpose of supporting students. Learning analytics is a collective institutional effort in every way: identifying, collecting, and organizing data; developing analytic models; collaborating with people with diverse skill sets; and determining actionable steps to use the information gathered. This brief highlights some of the primary issues and processes for leading an organization in the deployment and use of learning analytics, and it raises broad, conceptual questions about how best to use learning analytics to develop and strengthen learning skills among undergraduates.

Seminar 04A-Analytics Readiness: Is Your Institution Primed for Success? (separate registration required)

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:32:16 +0000

What is necessary for an institution to begin using analytics to inform teaching and learning? This session will review and discuss current findings and components of learning analytics frameworks as identified by experts in the field. The audience will engage in discussion and hands-on activities that synthesize these ideas to begin to identify the readiness of learning analytics success at their own institutions. Furthermore, participants will collaboratively develop the core elements of a crowdsourced survey instrument that will focus on the elements necessary for institutional-level readiness and the likelihood of achieving success in learning analytics.

The Current and Future State of Higher Education

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:06:20 +0000

Although there may be disagreement about where higher education is headed, few will disagree that we are in a time of change, a time in which a unique set of challenges have emerged. How should we respond to the impact of open educational resources, to the opportunities of big data and analytics, to the large amounts of venture capital and foundation funding being invested in postsecondary education? What new organizational and leadership models are called for? An open online course, Current/Future State of Higher Education, conducted in fall 2012, evaluated the change pressures that face universities and the opportunities that can help universities prepare for the future state of higher education. In this webinar, the presenters will harvest the key ideas, insights, and discussion points that came to light in the course of the online course, inviting further discussion with the webinar attendees.

2012 ECAR Study of Analytics in Higher Education Infographic

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 22:30:44 +0000

The objectives of this research were to assess the current state of analytics in higher education, outline the challenges and barriers to using analytics, and develop a maturity index to provide a common means of assessing progress in analytics.

IT Infrastructure to Support Analytics: Laying the Groundwork for Institutional Analytics

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:08:37 +0000

Analytics has become a hot topic in the educational community, and several key questions must be addressed concerning the infrastructure of an analytics program. These issues include the systems and tools used for analytics, data sources and models, and governance structures. This research bulletin broadly addresses these functions and related activities of the IT department that are important to providing analytics infrastructure.

Citation for this Work: Grochow, Jerrold. “IT Infrastructure to Support Analytics: Laying the Groundwork for Institutional Analytics” (Research Bulletin). Louisville, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, October 23, 2012, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Analytics: What We're Hearing

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 16:57:34 +0000

The second in a three-article EDUCAUSE Review series exploring analytics.

Big Data for Education: Data Mining, Data Analytics, and Web Dashboards

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 22:24:52 +0000

In this Brookings Institution report, author Darrell West, examines the potential for improved research, evaluation, and accountability through data mining, data analytics, and web dashboards.

ERO Podcast: Chief of Staff for the Khan Academy, Jessica Yuen

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 21:55:55 +0000

In this podcast, we talk with Chief of Staff for the Khan Academy, Jessica Yuen. In our conversation, she discusses the Khan Academy's use of analytics, attitude toward affordability for students, and the future of higher education.

Through a Glass, Brightly: IT’s Impact on Higher Education by 2020

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 19:00:21 +0000

The ECAR 2012 Symposium, was held June 18–20, 2012, in Boulder, Colorado. This event gave IT and higher education leaders the chance to imagine that the year is 2020 and to speculate about the biggest contributions that IT will have made between now and then to transform higher education. Attendees proposed 16 ideas and then explored the top-4 ideas in greater depth. This bulletin reports the solutions that came of these discussions, identifies the themes and challenges underlying all of the discussions, and shares advice on how to help prepare for and participate in IT’s potential contributions to higher education.

Citation for this Work: Grajek, Susan, and Judith A. Pirani. “Through a Glass, Brightly: IT’s Impact on Higher Education by 2020” (Research Bulletin). Louisville, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, August 28, 2012, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Analytics 3-Day Sprint - Summary

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 22:22:42 +0000

This brief summarizes the main themes from the EDUCAUSE Analytics Sprint, held July 24–26, 2012. Presenters and participants exchanged ideas and information via webinars, online conversations, Twitter, and blog posts

Austin Peay State University: Degree Compass

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 16:08:58 +0000

The Degree Compass course recommendation system at Austin Peay State University shortens time to degree completion and thus the costs of higher education.

Valencia College: LifeMap and Atlas--Planning For Success

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 22:46:13 +0000

At Valencia College, LifeMap is an advising system that helps students develop a career and educational plan early in their education, and Atlas is a learning portal that helps students engage with LifeMap.

Podcast: Analytics Examined

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 17:12:00 +0000

Clifford Lynch is executive director for the Coalition for Networked Information. Gardner Campbell is director for professional development and innovative initiatives at Virginia Tech. In this podcast, both share thoughts on using analytics. A video of this content is also available.

Video: Analytics Examined

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 20:24:09 +0000

Clifford Lynch is executive director for the Coalition for Networked Information. Gardner Campbell is director for professional development and innovative initiatives at Virginia Tech. In this podcast and video, both voice their concerns around using analytics.