Instructure, the leading learning ecosystem, working with Internet2, a member-driven research and education community working to solve technology challenges, today announced the creation of a Data Advisory Council to address the rising data management and archiving needs of higher educational institutions throughout the world. Comprising members from Instructure and Internet2, as well as representatives from various education institutions, the council seeks to recommend consistent data hygiene/governance standards. In addition, the council will work to find solutions to common data-related challenges such as managing huge amounts of data, student data privacy concerns, and security. The council will share findings from its research and provide recommendations for institutions looking to create consistent data governance policies and practices.
The proliferation of student data has become a common concern for institutions. Many higher education institutions have no formal data governance policy, leaving administrators to determine when and how to archive data no longer in use. This creates performance lag and security issues for institutions, faculty, staff and students using their systems.
The Data Governance Advisory Council will support the edtech industry through research, experiments and thought leadership. The group will test concepts, approaches, and solutions for data retention related to education. In addition, its members will help shape and evaluate emerging solutions, provide feedback on product strategy and help guide future plans for data governance solutions.
“This is an important area of focus for Instructure, as institutions need clear guidance on how to address the ever-expanding student data in their care,” said Melissa Loble, Chief Academic Officer at Instructure. “By implementing a data-retention strategy aligned with best practices, they can better protect students and improve performance and operational efficiency.”
“In our data-driven world, research and higher education institutions must both protect sensitive information and enable the use of data to advance teaching, enhance learning and the student experience, and accelerate research,” said Sean O’Brien, Associate Vice President for NET+ Cloud Services at Internet2. “A committee focused on these critical issues surrounding data governance is essential for building community-scale solutions with Internet2 industry members like Instructure.”
Penn State University was an early advocate for data governance and standards. After using a Learning Management System (LMS) for several years and thousands of courses, administrators became concerned about the growing data they were responsible for.
The Data Governance Council will create a playbook incorporating research-based advice and best practices for navigating data governance issues. In the meantime, Instructure has created a site with resources for administrators who want to learn more about data governance.
Kollegio, the AI-driven platform for college applications, has opened early access to over 4,000 waitlisted students who are seeking an easier and more effective path to apply to higher education. This marks Kollegio as the first-ever college counseling platform to accelerate the application process with assistance from AI, making applying to college more accessible for students everywhere. Kollegio is kicking off the first cohort of student users with $750k in pre-seed funding led by Tuesday Capital, Reach Capital, and Indus Valley Capital. Kollegio’s angels include individuals such as the CTO of Liveramp, the former CEO of Byte, and the CEO of Party Gaming.
According to data from the American School Counselor Association, the national student-to-school-counselor ratio was 385:1 in 2022–2023. Additionally, the average cost to hire a private college counselor in the U.S. ranges anywhere from $5,000-$100,000+. Kollegio offers the same selection of services to students at an extreme fraction of the price of a private counselor; from free of charge to a maximum of a $10 AI cover charge for power users of the platform, less than 1% of the human cost.
Planning and applying for college is a lengthy and disjointed process; from differing submission dates to varying admission essay prompts. Kollegio keeps track of all the details and creates internal goals to guide students through deadlines. AI-powered conversations help students brainstorm essay topics based on each university’s specific prompts and provides them personalized feedback as they progress. This tailored support is available 24/7 to match each student’s work style and maximize their chances of admission. Most of all however, Kollegio is focused on creating ethical solutions that empower students, rather than just doing the work for them.
“Kollegio was designed to ethically democratize the college admission process. Those who can pay thousands of dollars for personalized college counseling for their students are a minority in the big picture,” says Kollegio CEO and Co-founder, Senan Khawaja. “Kollegio is leveling the playing field for every student with university aspirations by providing tailored assistance for a tiny fraction of the cost of private counselors. Colleges will have access to a greater selection pool of qualified and driven students”
“Many counselors, particularly those serving public high schools, are overwhelmed; from the number of students they are helping to the vast amount of information they need to pull for any possible university they want to apply to,” says Saeed Naeem, Kollegio CTO and Co-founder. “With our data-driven AI, Kollegio can act as a counselor’s sidekick, helping create tailored applicant profiles then matching students to their best university options. All of a sudden a service that previously cost thousands or tens of thousands is available at the fingertips of every student in the world.”
To learn more about Kollegio, please visit www.kollegio.ai
OCLC has acquired JJH Consulting, a firm that specializes in advising institutions of higher education on how to maximize the value of their enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) business processes and the implementation of Workday enterprise systems and software. The acquisition will expand OCLC’s service profile and enable the organization to work with higher education institutions to help determine the best use of systems and services to fit their specific needs.
Workday is a leading cloud-based financial, human capital management, and student information system that engages with external firms to advise, implement, and optimize their innovative systems. JJH Consulting (“JJH”) has been a Workday Advisory Partner since 2018. OCLC has used Workday since 2015.
“The higher education sector faces a variety of challenges as colleges and universities continue to evolve and change,” said Skip Prichard, OCLC President and CEO. “Many face a daunting need to replace expensive, legacy systems. They need advisory support, project management, and implementation and optimization services to transition and integrate modern enterprise systems. We have decades of experience serving higher education institutions worldwide. This acquisition provides an opportunity for us to partner and share expertise. It’s a natural extension for OCLC in higher education and learning institutions.”
JJH was established in 2006 by John J. Hrusovsky. The firm has helped a variety of higher education institutions including Syracuse University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Southern California, the University of Washington, Ohio State University, and the University of Pittsburgh. John will join OCLC reporting to Bart Murphy, Chief Technology and Information Officer, to lead this new enterprise with a focus on scaling up the firm to continue to meet the needs of its clients.
“OCLC’s engagement with higher education and learning institutions, its modern technology platforms, and deep systems experience were ideal for JJH,” said John Hrusovsky, JJH Consulting founder. “OCLC is a successful global cloud software provider and Workday client. I look forward to working together to help institutions of learning with their adoption of best-in-class ERP business processes and Workday systems.”
