Dive Brief:
- Data-driven decision making is spreading into new areas at Clemson University in South Carolina, where it's now being used to help the school manage facilities and classrooms based on enrollment and other metrics.
- Using intelligence software called Tableau, data architects at Clemson are able to visualize how spaces are being used and are currently looking at developing predictive models, according to Campus Technology.
- The data collected touches multiple departments, from IT to finance to the board of trustees, but Brett Dalton, vice president for finance and operations cautioned against reading too much into the data, saying the software is only one method in use.
Dive Insight:
Higher education institutions have been using data in novel ways for the past several years. Data tracking can now include the use of wearables to collect student information or suggesting courses for students prior to registration in an effort to improve the college experience. But above all, experts caution that data should be easy to use and intuitive for staff across multiple departments, who might interpret the same set of data in different ways.
Better communication may hold the key. Recently, Educause held an Enterprise IT Summit about a similar topic, convening higher education IT and business leaders to talk about communication, especially around how data and analytics must now work across departments, with leaders from both sides sharing how all departments must look beyond their own needs and adopt the native mindset of other departments when making data-backed decisions.