Dive Brief:
- While colleges and universities consider developing data collection, aggregation, and analysis tools to improve student retention and make other campus improvements, the pitfalls are worth considering.
- There are concerns that collecting and analyzing big data is cost-prohibitive, that it will be time-consuming for administrators, and that there is a risk of acting on false positives from the data.
- The risks are real, and for eCampus News, one expert advises that institutions be sure data is properly gathered and assessed so the power of big data can be realized.
Dive Insight:
While major new investments in data analysis software and data storage tools are pricey, toeing the waters of higher ed analytics is possible. Starting small is an option. Simply looking at existing data about student demographics and course performance could provide a rough tool that helps counselors catch students at risk of failing, righting them before they get too far off-track. Savings based on retention can help justify future expenses and analytics programs can grow from there. Institutions already collect a lot of data. Taking the analysis slow is a reasonable plan of attack.