Data Applications in Higher Education | Teen Ink

Data Applications in Higher Education

August 31, 2022
By ChenchenZheng BRONZE, Chengdu, Other
ChenchenZheng BRONZE, Chengdu, Other
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Information is like a bunch of invisible lines, connecting each person and each object in an invisible way, and the globe is wrapped in a thick web of data. Information flow, technological advancements, and an overall improvement in the quality of life characterize modern civilization. It not only permeates every aspect of our everyday lives, but also plays an indispensable role and influence in the field of education.

To enhance the quality of their education, many sizeable educational institutions, such as Person and Knewton, and universities are utilizing databases, which are organized collections of structured data often held electronically in computer systems. These organizations employ data to compute, convert, and eventually present to students. They will use predictive analysis to foresee and anticipate the future of education. Universities already utilized a wide range of computational models and techniques, including classification, categorization, estimation, and visualization, to forecast the actions, choices, and possible issues that students and graduates will make.

Although databases have been around for a while, their true value lies in how well they are used to deliver meaningful, visible results. The data used in the area of education will practice the existing data, unlike the data used in daily life, allowing data and feedback to synchronize and flow in the teaching and teaching equipment, resulting in the digitization of education. They feature dynamic, constantly updated analysis and display in addition to static data. Similar to social media networks like Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, and the like, they regularly gather user data, sort it, and classify it to produce results. The platform will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of schools and compare and review the education policies of different countries, so that everyone can see the progress of many schools on a daily basis, so that they can compare and manage with each other. The information will be made available to the public as a display of expert efficiency methods and accomplishments.

These platforms are designed to flatten the data in the database and make it objective so that everyone, not just professionals, can grasp the data. Make instructional problems transparent, traceable, and individualized. By concentrating on ongoing accumulation, analysis, and presentation, and then finally applying feedback, prediction, and improvement, this strategy enables each student to become an anticipatory micro-center. In this way, everyone will be taught differently, and the school will get more information from it.

In order to better understand students and their learning settings, schools will utilize educational data mining, which is a means to construct and investigate the distinctive and expanding size of educational environments (Educational Data Mining). Data mining is divided into two categories: supervised modelling and unsupervised modelling. Supervised modelling makes predictions using data and outcomes that are already known. Unsupervised modelling, on the other hand, is employed when certain groups or patterns are not known. In order to boost productivity and boost student achievement, numerous school leaders are implementing tools and tried-and-true methods in predictive analysis, strategic management, business intelligence, and the like, as well.

JingLuan's article, "Data Mining and Its Applications in Higher Education" mentions three cases that modelling could be used for. The schools faced challenges as they were unable to differentiate between each student's type, academic success, and alumni devotion prior to the adoption of data mining. Different techniques are used by schools to answer these questions using data. In the first challenge, schools increase the precision of prediction by combining data or study duration to more thoroughly assess the type of student. Knowing each student's type allows schools to ascertain their learning preferences and goals, allowing them to suggest appropriate courses or make improvements based on this knowledge. Additionally, schools could also effectively raise the accuracy of predicting transfer-directed children as early as feasible by utilizing supervised data using test datasets and validation datasets. In case three, for a university, a high rate of alumni commitment is crucial. By successfully identifying graduates who are more likely to make financial contributions, mailing expenses might be reduced, saving the institution both time and money. The final findings demonstrate that data mining could be used effectively to significantly increase response rates and provide the desired outcomes.

This demonstrates how big data in education could be beneficial to everyone. It enables educators to comprehend what is taking place in each school so they may better oversee and advance each one's growth. The public may readily view and evaluate each school's approach because of the full, dynamic, automated, and publicly available data. To make learning more effective and engaging, schools may utilize data to enhance enrollment and student management. Students can profit from this method as well, in that they can receive additional assistance and tailored advertising, both of which are undeniable advantages.

References

Ben Williamson (2016). Digital education governance: data visualization, predictive analytics, and “real-time” policy instruments. Journal of Education Policy, 31:2, 123–141. DOI: 10.1080/02680939.2015.1035758.educationaldatamining.org. (n.d.). Educational Data Mining. educationaldatamining.org/

Luan, J. (2002). Data Mining and Its Applications in Higher Education. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2002(113), 17–36. doi.org/10.1002/ir.35


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