Big Data

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What is “big data”? Who’s doing it? Why is the higher education community so interested in it?

According to Wikipedia, “‘Big data’ is a term applied to data sets whose size is beyond the ability of commonly used software tools to capture, manage, and process the data within a tolerable elapsed time. Big data sizes are a constantly moving target, as of 2012 ranging from a few dozen terabytes to many petabytes of data in a single data set.”

Currently, big data is most commonly used by businesses and will become the “key basis for competition,” according to the McKinsey Global Institute’s May 2011 report “Big Data: The Next Frontier for Innovation, Competition, and Productivity.” They point out five ways that big data can create value. And while this new abundance of data will help businesses make data-driven decisions and enhance target marketing of products to consumers by using data to identify pregnant women, for example (see “How Companies Learn Your Secrets,” New York Times, February 16, 2012), we are still in the early stages of data collection. While many are excited by the challenge of exploring and analyzing the abundance of collected data and applying it to improve daily interactions, others are leery of where this data explosion could lead. In “The Future of Big Data,” a recently published report by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, experts provide varying viewpoints on the use of big data and the future. Businesses are the most enthusiastic in their use of big data, but the federal government is also jumping on the data train. The Obama administration has issued plans to dive into the big data pool with a $200 million initiative spanning six federal departments in the hopes of “improving our ability to extract knowledge and insights from large and complex collections of digital data, the initiative promises to help solve some the Nation’s most pressing challenges.” If the federal government can manage such massive data collections and successfully promote this undertaking, this should motivate other areas of society to take up the challenge of using large data sets to improve various industries and the lives of their consumers.

Higher education is just beginning to explore how to leverage the massive amounts of data it collects to improve the student experience. In his article “The Rise of Big Data,” Louis Soares explains that giving students an opportunity to see their data “in useful ways…can allow students to become better managers of their own educational experiences and can also, perhaps, improve collective outcomes across all of higher education.” Students are starting to see that data and use it to their advantage to keep themselves on track academically, as discussed in an EDUCAUSE 2011 session, “Course Signals: A Student Success System/Stoplights for Student Success.” As we find ourselves in a vast wonderland of data gathering and analyzing in higher education in the next few years, it will be exciting to see how big data can meet the promise of reducing institutional costs, increasing college affordability, and improving student retention and completion.

EDUCAUSE Staff Picks

“The Rise of Big Data in Higher Education,” EDUCAUSE Live!, March 2012

Understanding and Managing the Risks of Analytics in Higher Education: A Guide, EDUCAUSE, June 2012

“Scientific Research: How Many Paradigms?” EDUCAUE Review, June 2012

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EDUCAUSE Library Items for Big Data

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Privacy and the Connected Campus: May 21, 2013

May 21, 2013, 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. ET (UTC-4); convert to your time zone As students, scholars, and administrators use today’s connected online tools , they leave behind a “ d…
The Horizon Report in Action: Emerging Technologies Today and Tomorrow: March 27, 2013

Wondering what’s new in mobiles, electronic books, learning analytics , and other emerging technology areas? Join Malcolm Brown and Veronica Diaz of the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative as t…
Backgrounds and Behaviors of MOOC Participants and Implications for Faculty: April 4, 2013 | A session at the ELI Online Spring Focus Session: Learning and the MOOC
In spring 2012, the first MIT/edX MOOC, "Circuits and Electronics" (6.002x), was open to students around the world. A team of researchers from MIT and Harvard has been analyzing data gene…
The Beginning of Something Big: March 7, 2013

Thanks to MOOCs, online learning has gained worldwide attention from academic leaders, trustees, legislators, and the media. The power of technology enables massive scale and allows learning and …
Data Analytics: March 19, 2013 | A session at the Midwest Regional Conference
March 19, 2013 MWRC13_281984 …
Analytics: Leaders Asking the Right Questions: April 18, 2013 | A session at the Enterprise IT Leadership Conference 2013
The most important facet to making analytics work is having the right questions. These questions should come from the leader but even the most experienced leaders tend to identify measures and data…
Real-Time Visual Analytics to Evaluate Online Collaboration: March 12, 2013 | A session at the NERCOMP Annual Conference
In this interactive session, participants will explore the use of learning analytics to improve the design and facilitation of online discussions. These emerging analytics tools provide real-time v…
Emerging Insights on Learning, Technology, and the Road Ahead: February 14, 2013 | A session at the West/Southwest Regional Conference
In this presentation we'll explore emerging insights in the quickly changing world of learning. We'll look to models from today and envision the road ahead on issues including the inter…
ECAR Research Tour: The Year in Review: February 12, 2013 | A session at the West/Southwest Regional Conference
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 technologie…
Macro Analytics: Getting in the Game: March 19, 2013 | A session at the Midwest Regional Conference
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 analyt…

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