Rallying Behind the Data: Building a Data-backed Culture
Three years ago, we were in a tough spot. We had a set of ambitious retention goals to meet, we had a lot of data—albeit static, siloed, dusty data—but no “system” to collect or distribute it, much less act on it. We understood that the data at hand was informative, yes, but it was stuck in the past and not nearly reflective of our students’ lives. We knew that we had to implement new technology, but there’s nothing like the words “new” or “technology” to strike fear into the hearts of university officials.
I knew there had to be a better way. I was frustrated when I compared our own efforts to other industries like online retail. If a single click on a pair of shoes could instantly serve me Google ads and personalized Facebook posts, then why couldn’t we leverage similar data technologies for students? How could higher education be so far behind the rest of the world?
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