Colleges using data to identify students at risk of dropping out
THE stuff some colleges know right now about their students, thanks to data-mining of their digital footprints, boggles the mind. It may even seem a bit creepy.
Has their attendance slipped? Have they stopped logging in to read course packets or file assignments? Did they just drop the very class they needed for their major?
Tools developed in-house and by a slew of companies now give administrators digital dashboards that can code students red or green to highlight who may be in academic trouble. Handsome "heat maps" — some powered by apps that update four times a day — can alert professors to students who may be cramming rather than keeping up. As part of a broader effort to measure the "campus engagement" of its students, Ball State University in Indiana goes so far as to monitor whether students are swiping in with their ID cards to campus-sponsored parties at the student center on Saturday nights.
The university has taken to heart studies that say that students who are more engaged with college life are also more likely to graduate. When a student's card-swipe patterns suggest she's stopped showing up for clubs or socials, a retention specialist will follow up with a call or an email to see how she's doing.
Ball State is also tracking ID card swipes at the career center and student-leadership programs. It even put out a mobile app this fall for the 1,200 low-income freshmen who qualify for Pell Grants. The app rewards students with points based on the activities that the university monitors. They can redeem these points for merchandise at the campus bookstore. A quarter of eligible students are taking part. Ball State shorts are the most popular item.
Big Brother-esque? Perhaps. But these "big data" developments have the potential to cut the cost of higher education for students and their families, as well as for taxpayers.
Deployed properly, the tools could help millions of low-income students navigate the academic and financial hurdles that often derail first-generation college students. A new University Innovation Alliance of 11 large public universities is seeking to do just that. The alliance, announced in September and backed by a half-dozen major foundations, will use data analytics in its first set of projects, which are aimed at improving graduation rates for needy students.
For a book I just wrote about the higher-education crisis in America, I've explored many of the sector's most pressing problems and proposed innovations. The use of big data is showing many of the most tangible results.
Blowing Off Class? We Know
THE stuff some colleges know right now about their students, thanks to data-mining of their digital footprints, boggles the mind. It may even seem a bit creepy.
posted by Whitney Tilson at 12:46 AM
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