Tuesday

Tuesday's Recap

Read the full Summary of the Day >
 

Key Takeaways
 

Analytics requires a culture of inquiry, and inquiry creates an analytics culture. 

Analytics is a matter of culture—a culture of inquiry, of asking questions, looking for supporting data, being honest about strengths and weaknesses the data reveal, trying creative solutions, and then adapting as the results of those efforts come to fruition. But analytics not only relies on a culture of inquiry—it can help promote a such a culture. There's a synergy between investing in analytics projects and developing a culture that embraces analytics. 
 

Leaders must ask good questions.

Asking good questions requires understanding the context. Understanding the context means that leaders have to get multiple perspectives and the views of the most knowledgeable people in the organization. Question have to drive analytics, not the data you have at hand. 
 

Analytics is about working across boundaries.

Knocking down boundaries across units, getting rid of turf, and focusing on problem solving are crucial. At UMBC, this realization was part of the logic that led the president to form reporting relationships with the CIO/VP for Information Technology and the Institutional Research division.
 

Analytics is an investment.

Both the comments from the UMBC leadership team and the results of the ECAR study on analytics suggest that positioning analytics as an investment for the future is the most powerful way to make the case. At UMBC, engaged faculty, administrators, and students initiated the first analytics efforts to improve student outcomes by identifying barriers. When it became clear that the resulting redesigns were leading to success, the investment rationale was easy to see. Having more students succeed creates momentum around the institution as being student-friendly, attracting more students, and generating more income as a result. Analytics was an investment in building the quality and effectiveness of the institution.

Tuesday's Activities

Learn about the “big questions” analytics raises. Hear what analytics means for higher education and IT from peers in the community and experienced leaders.

What is analytics?

When we talk about analytics, we use the working definition of analytics as "the use of data, statistical analysis, and explanatory and predictive models to gain insights and act on complex issues."

There are four important aspects to analytics:

1. It informs inquiry to impact decisions.
2. It relies on high-quality, longitudinal data.
3. It results in actionable information.
4. It accurately predicts future states.

What Does Analytics Mean for Higher Education?

Archive of recorded webinar, presentation slides, and resources
 

Overview
What is analytics? Why are data and analytics critical strategic imperatives for colleges and universities today?

In the opening session for the Analytics Sprint, University of Maryland, Baltimore County's President Freeman Hrabowski III, CIO Jack Seuss, and Director of Institutional Research Michael Dillon will discuss analytics as a campus imperative, drawing on UMBC's successful analytics-driven transformation to examine the challenges posed by improved access to data for decision making. Susan Grajek, vice president for data, research, and analytics at EDUCAUSE, will then present findings from the forthcoming ECAR study on analytics, a national survey of higher education institutions that examines the state of analytics in higher education from multiple perspectives.

Featuring
Freeman A. Hrabowski III, President, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Jack Suess, Vice President of Information Technology and CIO, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Michael Dillon, Director of Institutional Research, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Susan Grajek, Vice President for Data, Research, and Analytics, EDUCAUSE

Hosted by
Diana Oblinger, EDUCAUSE President and CEO

Webinar Resources
UMBC Case Study YouTube Video
 

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