Brief Autumn A. Arnett EAB’s Garen Cuttler recently spoke to Education Dive about the role of data in higher ed. “There’s this unprecedented amount of information available for those who want it,” she said, creating a climate that has the potential to be “very, very transparent, and technology is the enabler of all of that.” “Technology is helping schools turn their data … into insights that can have an impact, so not just using data to see what is going on with their students, but also to actually take those insights and … really linking the campus together,” Cuttler said in a phone interview. A lot of institutions focus on predictive analytics, which Cuttler said is just “the first step.” Key is looking at those analytics, finding ways to increase cooperation among departments for the success of students and compare data and outcomes to those on similar campuses in the region and across the country to glean best practices that might be scaled on your own campus, she said.
In a recent interview with Education Dive , The American Education Advisory Board ’s Garen Cutler spoke about the important , but often under - utilised , role of data in American higher education . “ There ’s this unprecedented amount of information available for those who want it , ” she said , creating a system that has the potential to be “ very , very transparent , and technology is the enabler of all of that . ” However , she notes that it ’s extremely important for schools to focus on how to turn such data collection into actionable advancement plans , otherwise it is all but useless . The key thing is to look at the data and find ways to increase cooperation among departments to increase student learning outcomes and spread best practice ideas across the region , and the country .