Every student is unique and has different demands and needs. So how do you cater to their individual preferences? Your answer lies in Data Analytics.
The more we say about the benefits of gathering and analyzing data, the less it is. With learning and teaching breaking its traditional shackles and moving towards digitalization, data analytics have seeped into the nerve of the education sector. With the help of the 2.5 quintillion bytes of data that is mined every day, educators and institutional decision-makers are identifying institutional problems and detecting opportunities for positive change.
The advent of data analytics in education has opened up a plethora of technological approaches that enable interpretation of a diverse range of demographics. Using the available data, schools, colleges, and academic sites are developing new strategies to make the process of learning more accessible. This has also led to better creative skills as well as more enthusiasm towards studies. And that’s not all! There is more to it. Let us have a look at how data analytics can change the face of the education industry.
10 Ways Data Analytics Can Benefit The Education Industry
Data analytics has helped the education industry shift its paradigm to online and hybrid learning and teaching in ways more than one. Here are the advantages of incorporating data analytics into the education sector.
Proper Usage of Assembled Students Data
Schools and colleges mine massive volumes of information about the students gathered from the application and admission forms. Even the grades each student scores throughout an academic year can be used as learning statistics. From this data, institutes get their hands on geographical information, the learning curve, health issues of a student, the attendance rate, and more. This load of data, when aggregated or compared or tracked professionally using data analytics, can help schools and colleges keep track of how each student is progressing.
Tailor-fit Teaching Techniques
It is certainly not viable for a teacher to look into the requirements of every student in a class due to the limited class hours. When an education system is powered by data analytics, teachers and mentors can use the information to craft scholastic experiences according to the needs of the students. Moreover, every student has his/her speed of learning. While someone may learn better by solving more assignments, others may need a different learning approach. Data analytics can supply the teachers with individual feedback of every student so that they can provide the right kind of assignment help to students to help them perform better.
Data Analytics for Future Career Prediction
While knowing the birth dates of students may seem useless, it has more significant use in future prediction of a student. Data analytics has the power of telling a student about the possible job opportunities that he or she may come across based on the year of graduation. World-renowned universities like Harvard and Cambridge have started using collected data of the students to track the learning progress and academic record of a student to predict their educational future. And it is just not about information about the students. Schools and colleges around the world are tapping into the potential of data analysis to build an intelligent curriculum based on the future trends of the world. This is helping in making sure that the students are updated about what is going on around the world and are ready to face the challenges of the future.
Better Governance and Management of Institutions
Data analytics has the power to make strict supervision over the attendance record of a student. With biometrics being installed in several colleges, authorities now can track the time of logging in and checking out of students. This has helped reduce absenteeism as well as bunking activities. Intelligent data analytics programs are also being used to keep records of a student’s activities in the library, gymnasium, and more such facilities. Even beyond students, academic houses are using time analytics to track the performance as well as attendance of the teaching faculty.
Better Creativity and Enthusiasm
Imagine asking a fish to climb a tree and a bird to swim underwater! That is what our education system had been if not for data analytics. With data assemblage and analysis in the picture, a student who is exceptionally good at literature and writing is not being throttled with the complexities of trigonometry. Data analysis programs are helping educational mentors in gaining in-depth insight into the psyche of a student and what he or she wants. There is no need for going to a career counselor to find out what one wants to be when your information can showcase your strengths and weak points. This has resulted in more attentiveness and motivation among students.
Parity in Participatory Pedagogy
Data analytics aid in maintaining harmony among professors, teachers, students, assistants, and ensure that everyone is working together on different projects to achieve one goal. Effective use of data analytics has also made the fusion of pedagogy and technology a smoother process. It has helped in developing a coherent and analytical ecosystem that makes the best use of teaching skills and knowledge.
Pinpointing the Best Educational Practices
Data analytics can be utilized to supervise educational and behavioral pattern of students (also teachers, for that matter). The collected data can be analyzed and used by mentors to determine the working process of the successful students of the institution. Based on this data, they can make amendments and tailor educational practices to help students who are lagging pick up their pace. The South Wales University in Australia has started a program where they use the data of the top rankers and encourage other students to adopt the same practices to attain maximum academic success.
Pitching in the Investment in Technology
The statistics derived from data analytics can help assist the directors and other members of an educational board form better investment decisions regarding e-books and online examination platforms. The knowledge obtained from data analytics can be used in determining the cost of installation and maintenance charges. Institutional boards can also get insights into the expenses that they will have to incur to get the licenses of new software for the tentative technological development.
Better Assessment of Academic Success
With data analytics in the scenario, schools and colleges can now track the usage of devices of technology through the entire day to assess which combination delivers the best results. Data analytics are also being used to assist mentors in understanding and analyzing the ways a student can access and digest the content that is being taught to him or her. Data analytics has significantly helped in maintaining reputations of colleges and universities by pinpointing students who are at risk of failure. Separate mentors have been assigned to guide these students to lead them towards academic success and saving the institute the ignominy.
More Targeted Recruitment
Using the power of data analytics, institutions are now filtering applications and admissions to take in only the most deserving candidates. Academic boards are now using analytics to predict the nature of an applicant and compare each candidate with others. This has helped bring in more accuracy in the process of application. The in-depth knowledge is also allowing educational houses to change their strategies of recruitment and allot resources to fund the best scholarship candidates.
Beyond the above benefits, data analytics also has a pivotal role to play in helping academic brands maintain an online presence. With search engines making access to vast databases of information possible, a student is more likely to look up a prospective educational institution on the internet. With the inclusion of data analytics in the industry, schools and colleges are now using assembled data to showcase an institution as well as educate students.