Are institutional analytics more important than learning analytics?

Higher-ed leaders are increasingly focused on institutional analytics, despite challenges associated with implementing enterprise-wide programs, according to an Ellucian survey of 200 college presidents, provosts, CFOs, CTOs, and CIOs.

Fifty-eight percent of surveyed leaders say institutional analytics that improve operational efficiency are of greater priority than learning analytics that will improve student outcomes, according to What Will It Take to Build an Analytics-Driven Campus?

Analytics priorities seem to differ by role, with presidents, CFOs, and CIOs focusing on improved learning outcomes; provosts are focused on improved retention and completion; and CTOs are concerned with improved operational efficiency.…Read More

When Big Data pays

Civitas Learning parses Big Data from more than 3 million student records.

Big Data can mean big business.

In February, the technology research company Wikibon released a report predicting that the Big Data market would value $18.1 billion by the end of this year. That’s a growth of 61 percent since 2012.

From corporations to health and government agencies, there are few sectors not exploring the capabilities of Big Data – education included.…Read More

British company improves student engagement online

BlikBook is a social platform that allows students and educators to connect online through a specific question.

A British company aiming to improve online engagement in higher education has just raised more than $1.5 million in funding and is eyeing the United States market.

BlikBook started in 2010, but is now gaining popularity in England and Ireland. This summer, the platform is being used in courses at a third of universities in the two countries.  The company recently announced that it will move its headquarters to Dublin, though an office will remain in London, where the company was launched.

“This is a nice first test for us in geographic expansion,” said Cheyne Tan, BlikBook’s managing director. “We’re really driving out trials in the U.S. now. We’ve been selectively, and quietly, doing tests there.  It’s definitely a market that understands this type of thing.”…Read More

UC Irvine researchers create Big Data management tool

Many universities have harnessed Big Data over the past year.

Managing Big Data can be a big headache.

The amount of information people can access online is constantly growing. In fact, with every day that passes another 2.5 quintillion bytes of online information is created. This data can be used to find patterns in student learning, help quickly diagnose patients and track consumer trends.

But it’s hard to make sense of all of this information without a way to store and analyze it. Researchers in the University of California system are hoping they can help with their new software called AsterixDB.…Read More

Carnegie Mellon company to offer courseware customizable with learning analytics

Acrobatiq will offer customizable online courseware, consulting services and learning analytics products to educators.

Carnegie Mellon University’s Open Learning Initiative (OLI) has been a pioneer in online education since 2001. It began offering free and open online courses that could assess student outcomes years before the words massive, open, online and course assembled into a catchy acronym or “learning analytics” became a common buzz phrase.

But for the creators of Carnegie Mellon’s new subsidiary company Acrobatiq, OLI was just the beginning.

“The work done by OLI and CMU has laid a great foundation,” Eric Frank, the company’s CEO said in a blog post last week. “The time seems right to take it to the next level, and Carnegie Mellon has formed Acrobatiq for this purpose. Through Acrobatiq, we will be able to scale up capacity to serve more learners and institutions, accelerate innovation, and ensure financial sustainability from revenue versus a reliance on grant funding.”…Read More

Learning analytics tools aim to boost student retention, outcomes

Learning analytics software helps professors evaluate their course structures and ensure better student outcomes.

As policy makers and campus leaders focus on boosting college completion rates, learning analytics is a field that has exploded in importance. A number of programs now exist to help instructors and campus leaders track student progress more closely, leading to better student outcomes.

Some of these programs are standalone software packages, while others are modules or features included in leading student information or learning management systems. Here’s an overview of some of the many products that can improve communication between students and professors, allowing everyone to gain a clearer perspective on students’ needs.

Canvas Analytics…Read More

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