2012 ECAR Study of Analytics in Higher Education

Published:: Friday, June 15, 2012
: Briefs, Case Studies, Papers, Reports

Author(s) and Contributors:

Source(s) and Collection(s):: Sources(s): EDUCAUSE Research Collection(s): Research Interactive Graphics and Infographics Research Hub Research Report Survey Instruments Presentations

ParentTopics:: Analytics Data Administration and Management Learning Analytics

A Collaboration Between EDUCAUSE and AiR (Association for Institutional Research) Logos

Analytics in Higher Education: Benefits, Barriers, Progress, and Recommendations
The objectives of this research were to assess the current state of analytics in higher education, outline the challenges and barriers to using analytics, and develop a maturity index to provide a common means of assessing progress in analytics.

2012 ECAR Study of Analytics in Higher Education is publicly accessible thanks to generous support from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Report and Supporting Materials

*This maturity index has been integrated into the EDUCAUSE Benchmarking Service.

Key Findings

Analytics is widely viewed as important, but data use at most institutions is still limited to reporting.
Analytics programs are most successful when various constituents—IR, IT, functional leaders, and executives—work in partnership.
Where analytics is concerned, investment is the area in which higher education institutions are making the least progress.
Institutions should focus their investments on expertise, process, and policies before acquiring new tools or collecting additional data.
Institutions that have made more progress in Investment, Culture/Process, Data/Reporting/Tools, Expertise, and Governance/Infrastructure are more likely to use data to make predictions or projections or to trigger action in a variety of areas.

Getting Started with Analytics Videos: Words of Wisdom from the Experts

Select the links below to view excerpts from video interviews:

Tristan Denley, How Can Analytics Help Students Make Informed Choices?
Paige Borden, What Can an Institution Do to Ensure the Success of an Analytics Program?
Sally Johnstone, What Can Traditional Institutions Learn from Nontraditional Institutions About Analytics?
Jerry Grochow, The DON'Ts of Analytics

Related Resources

IT Infrastructure to Support Analytics: Laying the Groundwork for Institutional Analytics by Jerrold M. Grochow, ECAR Research Bulletin, October 2012
Building Organizational Capacity for Analytics, by Donald M. Norris and Linda L. Baer, Report, February 2013.

Want more on analytics? See resources from the July 2012 EDUCAUSE Analytics Sprint.