“It is death by a thousand cuts for many student success initiatives. Capturing data from disconnected solutions is difficult, often making timeliness, quality and utility questionable. Moreover, higher education has yet to achieve true consensus on what factors matter most and how to influence them in predictable and scalable ways.” —Nicole Engelbert, vice president of higher education development, Oracle
“The biggest hurdles to cooperative data-informed decision-making are definitional and cultural. First, a college must corporately define student success. Next, they need agreed-upon measurement points and standardized metrics. Finally, they need to do the analysis and tell the story—consistently and repeatedly. An upfront, cooperative definition and the prioritization of communication breaks silos and increases acceptance of even unflattering results.” —Meghan Turjanica, product manager, analytics, Jenzabar
“Higher education administrators face the challenge of accessing student success information and taking action quickly. Through the use of real-time data enabled by technology, colleges are provided with a holistic view of the student, where faculty, advisers and administrators can collaborate and track comprehensive student success more efficiently.” —Liz Dietz, vice president for student strategy and product management, Workday
“Context and consistency are the greatest hurdles. The biggest challenge we hear about is: ‘How do we ensure that students receive consistent messages from each department with the right context?’ You need a common view of the data about a student plus a common understanding of what that student needs to be successful. It’s a tough problem!” —Austin Laird, product director for higher education, Unit4
“The biggest hurdles institutions face include collecting the right data from disparate systems, and presenting that information in one comprehensive view that allows them to quickly make effective decisions that improve student success. Often, data is locked in silos making it increasingly difficult to obtain a comprehensive view. Higher education institutions are utilizing content services platforms to connect independent systems and provide a single ‘view’ of the student. Once information is connected, colleges become more data-driven and better prepared to respond to what that data is saying.” —Kevin Flanagan, director of higher education and government sales, Hyland
“The ecosystem on campus that drives student success often leverages department-specific technology solutions. Disparate data sets result in metrics that are difficult to correlate and interventions are almost impossible to monitor for effectiveness. This impedes the ability of an institution to maintain a focus on the student, which remains a departmental-focused view.” —Jennifer Beyer, vice president of product management, Campus Management
Read the main story: 2 big ways campus offices are collaborating in the name of student success
