Dive Brief:
- Georgia State, as an urban research university, has a diverse student body that, 15 years ago, would have been typical with graduation rates of just 30% — now it graduates 54% of its students, and rising, and there are no attainment gaps across races or income levels.
- In a Q&A with University Business, President Mark P. Becker says predictive analytics has been a major factor in the improvement, prompting 43,000 face-to-face meetings between students and advisors last year alone, among a population of 25,000 undergraduates.
- Professional advisors (rather than faculty) help students think about their majors, what classes they’re taking, whether they should build extra time into a given semester because of their course load, and their progress toward a degree, making sure fewer students ever have a chance to get off track.
Dive Insight:
One of the most powerful benefits of analyzing data is the ability to make informed predictions about the future. One criticism of such predictive programs, however, is that they could make mistakes with unique students. Georgia State’s program predicts how students will do in every course, giving them a heads up about whether it will be easy, difficult, or a major struggle. In some ways, it is helpful to guide students toward majors that make sense for them, given their strengths and their interests. It certainly improves graduation rates. But surely some students are steered away from courses that could have opened new paths for their futures.
A caution in data analytics programs is to be careful about how “predictive” the analyses are considered. Giving students the ability to make more informed decisions about their educations is often seen as the goal of such programs, however.