Can I change the firmware on a Retail EV3 Intelligent brick to the Educational version?
There are indeed two versions of the firmware to support the two sets of capabilities of the EV3 Brick, both currently at version 1.3/1.03:


EV3 Firmware V1.03*H*.bin - The current "Home" edition.
EV3 Firmware V1.03*E*.bin - The current "Education" edition.


From what I've seen, you should be able to use either firmware on the bricks, however to get access to the data logging features you would also need to use the Education version of the software as well:


  LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Software includes:
  
  
  Data logging capabilities so students can log and analyse real-time sensor values.