UB Tech 2014

Through the Looking Glass

of Big Data

Phil Ice, Ed.D.VP, Research and Development

American Public University System

=loss annually in state and federal funds for

student attrition

$4.1 Billion

= average % attrition rate for a 4 year degree at Pubic

Universities

57%

= average spend for a first year student

by Public Universities

$17K

= value of retaining just 30 students

$500K

32% of all college students are now taking at least

1 online course

6.7 million enrollments

Problems

Online failure / withdraw rates are up to 17 times higher than face to face

Good theoretical models but little hard data

Deluge of data – 8 data bases and 3 LMS’s per campus on average

Education wants to reinvent the wheel

Lack of stakeholder buy-in / institutional paralysis

Where are we headed? Business ModelsProvide Guidance

ConnectionsAll analyses and stakeholders

are interrelated

Levels of AnalysisStart Simple and Build

Make Data Consumable

Visualize

Utilize

Measure

Share

Iterate

Visualize Interaction: Heat map

• Where are students clicking on page

Visualize Interaction: Overlays

See the number of clicks on each element of your page.