Analytics

What is Analytics and Why is it Important?

Analytics is about using data to be be better informed when planning or acting. Analytics are not new to education but developments both inside and outside the education system have recently stimulated a new wave of interest and innovation both in the kinds of questions analytics can be applied to and in the techniques available. The New Media Consortium/EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Horizon Report, 2012 Higher Education, and others have identified analytics as a key trend with impact ramping up in the short to medium term and the range of applications with demonstrable benefits grows on a monthly basis.

To make the most of the opportunities that analytics offers, and to avoid running into problems, we should understand the subject before deciding how to adopt analytics at a personal, departmental or organisational level. This page brings together a selection of resources that explore issues that are pertinent to educational organisations and which draw out some of the developments as of late 2012.

Analytics Series

A selection of the key themes emerging in relation to analytics are explored in a series of papers produced by JISC CETIS. These papers contextualise the issues with reference to post-compulsory education and they are aimed primarily at managers and early adopters who are interested in the opportunities that analytics offers if used in ways that match their organisational strategy and culture.

Key Themes for the Analytics Series - each of the eleven papers addresses a different topic and each contains discussion and extensive examples and references to key literature.