For the past several years, EDUCAUSE publications

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1 Actio By Doald Norris, Lida Baer, Joa Leoard, Louis Pugliese, ad Paul Lefrere For the past several years, EDUCAUSE publicatios have described the emergece of two complemetary forces: (1) the growth of academic aalytics i higher educatio ad the kowledge services eeded to support seamless sharig ad leveragig of cotextualized data/ iformatio; ad (2) the escalatig accoutability demads that are drivig performace measuremet ad improvemet iitiatives. 1 These forces coverged i the July/August 2007 issue of EDUCAUSE Review, which showcased their potetially trasformative impacts o higher educatio. 2 Doald Norris is Presidet of Strategic Iitiatives, Ic., a maagemet cosultig firm i Herdo, Virgiia, which has bee co-creatig actio aalytics solutios with colleges, uiversities, ad commercial cliets sice Lida Baer is Seior Vice Chacellor for Academic ad Studet Affairs at the Miesota State Colleges ad Uiversities. Joa Leoard is Presidet of 3Degrees Cosultig. Louis Pugliese is Presidet of Learig Diagostics, Ic. Paul Lefrere is Associate Professor (Seior Lecturer) with the Istitute of Educatioal Techology at the Ope Uiversity of the Uited Kigdom, Professor of elearig at the Uiversity of Tampere i Filad, ad a Pricipal Cosultat with Strategic Iitiatives, Ic. Aalytics Measurig ad Improvig Performace That Matters i Higher Educatio 42 Educause review Jauary/February 2008 Illustratio by Michael Morgester, Doald Norris, Lida Baer, Joa Leoard, Louis Pugliese, ad Paul Lefrere

2 First, kowledge-leveragig ad aalytical practices are advacig i sophisticatio ad proliferatio, aided i part by a host of ew software ad professioal services offerigs. These iclude deployig academic aalytics (tools, solutios, ad services) to produce actioable itelligece, service-orieted architectures, mash-ups of iformatio/cotet Pervasively improvig performace requires coordiated measuremet, itervetio, ad actio across the etire educatio/ workforce spectrum. ad services, prove models of course/ curriculum reivetio, ad chages i faculty practice that improve performace ad reduce costs. Over time, these ew offerigs have the potetial to support previously uattaiable levels of measuremet, compariso, ad istitutioal itervetios to improve access, affordability, ad success for studets. Secod, public demad i the Uited States is escalatig for colleges ad uiversities to measure, demostrate, ad improve performace ad to provide access to this data. This demad is beig drive by a variety of forces ad iterests. The most compellig is the stark fact that the iteratioal stadig of the Uited States is slippig. I spite of the relative domiace of U.S. leadig uiversities ad their world-class reputatios, the atio is losig groud i terms of the overall educatioal attaimet of its populatio. The Uited States is also deficiet i the across-the-ecoomyad-workforce competecies ecessary for success i the global ecoomy. Additioally, mid-tier istitutios are icreasigly at risk of fallig behid U.S. ad iteratioal competitors i their ability to track their performace ad idetify areas where they eed curriculum ad process reivetio ad iovatio. As a cosequece, the Uited States faces projected declies i per capita icome ad ecoomic competitiveess. Take together, the isights from these articles i EDUCAUSE Review pait a powerful portrait of the eed for measurig performace ad the movig beyod evidece/reportig to actio. The actio challege is eve broader tha described, however. Performace icludes both operatioal performace (admiistrative ad support systems) ad academic performace (desig ad executio of academic strategies to achieve learig experieces, outcomes, ad real-world competecies). Pervasively improvig performace requires coordiated measuremet, itervetio, ad actio across the etire educatio/ workforce spectrum from cradle to career, so to speak. 3 Such performace improvemet will require more effective articulatio ad trasitios betwee learig eterprises ad betwee learig ad work. It will require earlier, more effective stimulatio of learers so that they ca acquire the skills essetial for success i the global ecoomy. Workig across the etire educatio spectrum of learig/work requires ew solutios ad techiques, icludig the sharig of cotextualized actios that work i improvig performace. Clearly, ew processes ad performace idicators must be developed to measure the emergig life, learig, ad work skills ecessary for our chagig world. But how ca we put more actio ito aalytics? Six primary actios are eeded to evolve from the curret geeratio of academic aalytics (tools, solutios, ad services) to actio aalytics Focus o processes, solutios, ad behaviors, ot just o the acquisitio of tools. 2. Icorporate workforce factors i Pre-K-20 curricula ad educatioal offerigs. 3. Utilize the ew geeratio of opearchitecture aalytics to ehace access, affordability, ad success for learers ad to exted the ERP stack. 4. Icorporate cross-istitutioal ad iter-sectoral comparisos ito solutios. 5. Develop ew practices/solutios that esure the aligmet of istitutioal goals, strategies, iitiatives, itervetios, outcomes, ad measures i a variety of ways, icludig aligmet from istitutioal to college to departmet to program levels. 6. Develop orgaizatioal capacity ad chage culture to ecourage evidecebased behavior ad actio-focused iovatio to improve performace. Examples of Performace Aalytics Most colleges ad uiversities uderutilize their data ad aalytical resources. Eve though they may be awash i data, they may lack the specific iformatio they eed to idetify the performace aspects that truly matter to them ad their audieces aspects that are ot ecessarily those captured i the key performace idicators of today s istitutios. Moreover, academic culture favors aalysis over actio. Traditioally, istitutios have placed a greater degree of importace o reputatio (prestige) tha o improvemets i academic performace. I practice, academic freedom too ofte traslates ito autoomy rather tha accoutability, makig cocerted actio more complex. Yet i spite of these limitatios, may istitutios have foud creative ways to measure ad aalyze performace ad value. A archipelago of performacefocused aalytics solutios is surfacig across higher educatio. The most advaced solutios are curretly foud i for-profit educatioal eterprises ad corporate learig, where performace 44 Educause review Jauary/February 2008

3 aalytics are a fudametal, guidig priciple ad practice. I additio, a cadre of leadig-edge colleges ad uiversities are deployig ew practices: Fusig istitutioal research ad assessmet to create robust istitutioal effectiveess capabilities Geeratig the first wave of academic aalytics focused o improvig admissio ad studet retetio ad related operatioal performace by implemetig executive dashboards that provide leverage poits for improvig performace ad accoutability Utilizig the applicatio of measuremet, process improvemet, ad behavioral chage to cosciously stimulate a culture of measuremet ad improvemet Reivetig articulatio ad trasfer practices that are spreadig across istitutios Itroducig learer-cetric ad cocurricular aalytics A ew orgaizig, aalytic, ad presetig layer ad chages i behavior ad culture are eeded to move from data to reportig to aalysis to actio. Further, cross-istitutioal performace compariso is poised to grow eve more dramatically. May commuity ad techical colleges ad comprehesive uiversities are usig cross-sector aalytics to better coect work ad learig ad the reflect that likage i the competecies taught withi the curriculum. Policymakers i a umber of states are recogizig the eed to better articulate performace requiremets that spa Pre-K-20 ad lik to workforce eviromets. They are cosiderig ad also eactig legislatio to esure greater commuicatio ad collaboratio throughout the educatio pipelies. Fially, a expadig meu of website resources are providig ope access to iformatio o performace ad value for studets, parets, decisiomakers ad policymakers, ad the public at large. The website for the State Higher Educatio Executive Officers (SHEEO) cotais a robust likage egie for accessig local, state, ad atioal data o access, affordability, ad performace ( liks/liks_search.asp). The Pew Ceter o the States has created a Chace for Success Idex that portrays the relative success of states i preparig their citizes for successful futures ( The Lumia Foudatio has assembled iformatio i What We Kow About Access ad Success i Postsecodary Educatio ( we_kow/). The Educatio Trust provides Educatio Watch Olie! which provides state-by-state summaries of achievemet ad best practice examples of schools with high-risk studets who are succeedig ( projects/edtrust/idex.html). These olie resources all demostrate the public s kee iterest i the performace of the istitutios ad learig eterprises charged with maitaiig work ad educatio competitiveess. Performace Aalytics i For-Profit Learig Eterprises For-profit higher educatio istitutios have log bee recogized as leaders i leveragig techology to create reusable cotet that ca be embedded as part of core courses/curricula that esure cosistet stadards of learig ad demostrable studet learig outcomes. Additioally, for-profits tailor their services ad practices to the accelerated learig eeds of adults. 5 These iovatios have dramatically ehaced operatioal efficiecies ad have emphasized measurable competecies ad performace outcomes. The for-profits have also focused their operatioal policies ad practices o actios that work for adult learers. These value-focused measures 6 have eabled the for-profit providers to charge premium prices for their educatioal offerigs. I additio, for-profit istitutios like the Uiversity of Phoeix ad Capella Uiversity cosistetly make extesive use of artificial itelligece ad predictive modelig i marketig, recruitmet, ad retetio. They employ itrusive itervetios with at-risk studets usig both predetermied aalysis ad dyamic trackig of learer egagemet ad performace. They have also streamlied ad persoalized articulatio ad trasfer arragemets, reducig the cost ad complexity of gratig credit for previously acquired competecies. The for-profits are firmly liked to employers eeds. They have developed their IT ifrastructures to achieve these trasformative goals, focusig o both operatioal efficiecy ad customer itimacy. They uderstad the eeds of idividual adult learers ad particular employers ad have tailored program ad certificatio offerigs to alig with employmet requiremets. The forprofits have shaped their cultures aroud performace: cosistet outcomes ad persoalized, competecy-based learig are key elemets of their brad. Academic Aalytics i Colleges ad Uiversities May colleges ad uiversities are deployig academic aalytics. For example, Baylor Uiversity is usig erollmet predictive modelig. The Uiversity of Alabama is predictig ad improvig studet retetio. Siclair Commuity College is developig a studet success pla (the Idividual Learig Pla) ad 46 Educause review Jauary/February 2008

4 a early alert system to support itervetios. Norther Arizoa Uiversity is coectig resource utilizatio, risk level, ad outcomes. Purdue Uiversity is usig its course maagemet system data to idetify at-risk studets ad stimulate actio. I additio, may istitutios are utilizig predictive modelig services developed iterally or provided by strategic erollmet maagemet (SEM) compaies as part of outsourced SEM services. At the grassroots level i may of these istitutios, aalytics are chagig decisio-makig, plaig, ad resource-allocatio processes. 7 Aother variatio o academic aalytics is to make them mobile. For example, Park Uiversity utilizes Jezabar s PDA Executive Dashboard Applicatio, which coects to Park s ERP system ad queries the data. The web page address that displays the first graphic ca be accessed via a desktop or ay mobile device that has web access ad a browser. Thus eve while away from campus, Park Uiversity s o-the-go executives ad represetatives ca use olie aalytical processig (OLAP) to have drill-dow ad dyamic graphical represetatio o missiocritical key performace idicators. 8 O the other had, may istitutios are strugglig with academic aalytics. A EDUCAUSE Ceter for Applied Research (ECAR) survey coducted i late 2004 suggested that may colleges ad uiversities harbor the illusio that they ca achieve satisfactory academic aalytics by simply boltig o, to their existig studet iformatio system, some rudimetary data marts/warehouses, report writig, ad extract, trasform, ad load (ETL) capabilities. 9 I reality, a ew orgaizig, aalytic, ad presetig layer ad chages i behavior ad culture are eeded to move from data to reportig to aalysis to actio. Creatig a Culture of Measuremet, Performace, ad Actio Advacig performace measuremet ad improvemet i a college or uiversity requires chagig from a culture of reportig to a culture of high-agility, evideced-based decisio-makig ad actio. Such cultural chage calls for committed istitutioal leadership ad attetio to avigatig chage ad to trasformig behaviors at all levels. Across higher educatio, far-sighted executives are fidig ways to emphasize performace, creatig icetives to support iovatio, fosterig chage i the traditioal academic culture by modelig ew patters of behavior, ad buildig ew capabilities. Ofte, these efforts are iitiated by members of istitutioal boards of trustees that have a strog performace orietatio ad/ or by state-level performace-fudig iitiatives. 10 A case i poit is the board ad the executive leaders of the Miesota State Colleges ad Uiversities (MSCU). They first established targeted goals to accomplish the system-wide strategic pla ad are ow pushig for performace-based iovatios. The MSCU strategic pla madates a robust iovatio iitiative, providig fudig icetives ad mechaisms for leveragig such iitiatives, particularly oes focusig o studet learig. The board of trustees established a ad hoc Committee o System ad Istitutioal Assessmet, which oversees performace efforts. For each campus, the committee adopted targeted measures that serve as the basis for the performace review of the campus presidet. MSCU has deployed a performace dashboard to reflect these measures ad supportig academic aalytics, which are used at the system-wide ad istitutioal levels. Curretly, the chacellor ad the seior vice chacellor are both beig evaluated usig performace goals. This system will be rolled out more extesively across the eterprise i the ear future. Aother example of committed istitutioal leadership is the ewly reorgaized Uiversity of Toledo, which recetly emerged as a sigle istitutio from the combiatio of the Uiversity of Toledo ad the Medical Uiversity of Ohio. The ew chacellor, who was the physicia leadig the Medical Uiversity of Ohio, has aouced his itetio to deploy, i higher educatio, the performace measuremet Jauary/February 2008 Educause review 47

5 ad improvemet techiques that have bee reducig costs ad ehacig productivity i medicie. The stated goal is to create a culture of performace measuremet ad improvemet that ca be used to trasform the istitutio. Cosultig teams are assistig the uiversity to achieve productivity gais from the merger ad to use performace measuremet ad improvemet to drive process reivetio, collaboratio, ad iovatio. Coppi State Uiversity is aother example. It has deployed a aggressive aalytics ad dashboardig capability, co-created with istrategy Solutios, combiig studet, fiacial, fud-raisig, ad help desk aalytics with tailored modules for assessmet ad outcomes measuremet. 11 This solutio icorporates a series of key performace idicators ad scorecard approaches that build the capacity to easily ad dyamically modify variables ad the to drill dow to examie the idividual studets, courses, facilities, or programs that are the focus of the aalyses. For the past two years, this capability has bee utilized by a cadre of aalytical users that today umber 120 admiistrators, faculty, ad staff, out of a total of 500 o campus. Sigificatly, these solutios are highly ituitive ad user-friedly. Durig this time, users have bee employig aalytics to progressively chage the maer i which data/ iformatio are used i decisio-makig processes, reshapig the ature ad timig of those practices. Coppi has used its ew aalytics capacity to pass NCATE (Natioal Coucil for Accreditatio of Teacher Educatio) accreditatio, maagig iety-ie rubrics ad milestoes withi its school of educatio for teacher certificatio aloe, ad it is poised to do the same for other professioal school accreditatios ad for accreditatio from the Middle States Commissio o Higher Educatio. But Coppi s academic aalytics solutios are already havig a truly trasformative impact o the very heart of the uiversity: ecouragig daily dialogues amog admiistrators, faculty, ad staff regardig resources, practices, performace, ad outcomes. Before Coppi implemeted the aalytics solutio, good iformatio The most powerful actio aalytics are learer-cetric, focusig o issues related to access, affordability, ad success for learers at all stages of their learig lives. was difficult to come by. With Coppi s ew aalytics capabilities, decisiomakers ca immediately idetify issues, determie the root causes, ad take real-time corrective actios. The iterim presidet/provost ad the deas are actively usig these solutios to frame decisios; ew deas are beig orieted i utilizig Coppi s actio aalytics solutio as they are brought o board. Progressively, outcomes assessmet ad performace are drivig decisios ad workig their way ito resourceallocatio decisios. I this way, a culture of actio-orieted performace is takig hold ad proliferatig across the campus. Improvig Trasferability: Courses, Competecies, ad Curricula A reewed focus o improvig articulatio ad trasfer is aother iovatio yieldig tagible value to studets by reducig costs ad time to degree. A umber of state-level efforts seek to provide seamless articulatio ad trasfer betwee istitutios i state systems. But progress is slow, ad may studets still complai about havig to repeat too may courses, eve i states ad istitutios with extesive articulatio agreemets. As a result, a umber of more aggressive solutios have emerged. Pesylvaia public colleges ad uiversities streamlied trasfer amog istitutios i July The iovative 3+1 program offered by Idiaa Uiversity (IU) offers a Bachelor of Geeral Studies degree from IU to studets who trasfer 90 credits from a commuity college ad the take 30 hours via distace learig. This offers obvious cost ad accelerated graduatio advatages ad is likely to be imitated by other providers. 13 Not to be left out, forprofit higher educatio istitutios are cotiuously streamliig their trasfer processes, idetifyig course competecies so that studets receive credit for previous work, ad creatig idividualized programs for completio. Learer-Cetric ad Co-Curricular Aalytics for Life The most powerful actio aalytics are learer-cetric, focusig o issues related to access, affordability, ad success for learers at all stages of their learig lives. Over time, these aalytics will empower learers to take greater resposibility for their success, i collaboratio with parets, teachers, metors, ad employers. As learer-cetered aalytics spread through portfolios ad other media, these capabilities will also become more portable. The emergece of learer-cetric aalytic tools is supportig studet affairs divisios i developig iovative measuremets to quatify the impact of programs focused o service learig, leadership developmet, ad studet egagemet. The pedagogical foudatio for these ew measuremet strategies is perhaps best articulated i Learig Recosidered, which argues persuasively for the assessmet of studets persoal developmet ad experieces outside the classroom as a itegral part of the 48 Educause review Jauary/February 2008

6 collegiate curriculum. 14 I practice, the Uiversity of Baltimore ad other leadig istitutios are utilizig the SA LINK system to documet co-curricular learig outcomes. This system captures iformatio o participatio i leadership workshops, studet govermet, ad studet orgaizatios ad uses dashboards to combie this data o studets ivolvemet with their academic ad demographic profiles, providig ew isights ito the importace of both curricular ad co-curricular developmet. Actio Aalytics at Work A key igrediet of actio aalytics is embeddig workforce requiremets i educatioal curricula. Recetly, thirty members of the Natioal Goverors Associatio baded together, callig for greater itegratio of iformatio, policies, ad practices for Pre-K-20 ad employmet. 15 May states have bee actively pursuig such vetures. Some of the best efforts focus o at-risk ad uderserved studets. Agai, MSCU is a case i poit. Providig access ad opportuity is a core strategic goal for the MSCU system. At a time whe Miesota s ecoomic vitality ad quality of life require greater educatioal attaimet, too may studets are droppig out of high school, graduatig uprepared for college, or givig up o college altogether. A study etitled Mid the Gap, coducted by the Brookigs Istitutio i 2005 for the Twi Cities, reiforced this poit. It cocluded that despite the regio s overall stregth ad ecoomic competitiveess, deeply troublig ad dramatic race-based ad class-based educatioal disparities will seriously threate the quality of life i the state. 16 I respose to this report, the MSCU system developed Achievemet Ceters for College Erollmet ad Studet Success (ACCESS). Itervetio strategies are based o powerful aalytic measures kow to make a differece i college readiess ad success for uderserved studets: preparatio, awareess, fiacial issues, ad istitutioal resposibility for studet success. Still, ACCESS will require better data, better aalysis, ad better tools to develop early itervetio strategies for each studet based o persoalized e-folios. The ceters will require resources to itervee ad remediate ad to sustai success. These resources ca be deployed with more efficiet ad effective programs ad services whe aliged with the actio aalytics model. I additio, MSCU is lookig to leverage its aalytical resources ad relatioships to develop a loosely coupled, actio aalytics utility that will shape itervetios based o a repository of cotextualized actios that work to improve the performace of uderserved learers across Pre-K-20 ad employmet settigs. These capabilities will be utilized to develop the orgaizatioal capacity of all its public/private parters. This veture will leverage MSCU s statewide portfolio iitiative (wier of a Iovatio Award i 2005 from the Coucil of State Govermets), which is reachig ito K-12, postsecodary educatio, employers, ad the commuity at large. 17 Clearly, oe size does ot fit all i actio aalytics. Most istitutios begi predictive/dyamic modelig by focusig o admissios ad retetio. Some istitutios, like MSCU, are focusig o servig the uderserved. Some major research uiversities are most iterested i improvig the performace ad accoutability of their grats-maagemet operatios ad/or i applyig dyamic modelig to huma resources ad fiacial maagemet. Other istitutios begi actio aalytics i studet affairs ad cocurricular developmet. I may ways, actio aalytics is like a smorgasbord of optios, all aliged with istitutioal goals ad strategies. Aalytics ca be lauched i specific, targeted areas ad ca the be expaded alog ew migratio paths as admiistrators, faculty, staff, ad studets lear to icorporate aalytics as a key elemet of decisio-makig. Ope Architecture Eables Actio Aalytics To reach their full potetial, the ew geeratio of performace measuremet 50 Educause review Jauary/February 2008

7 Figure 1 ad improvemet solutios depeds o the widespread dissemiatio, developmet, ad adoptio of ope-architecture applicatios i higher educatio. The 2006 EDUCAUSE Review article Makig Kowledge Services Work i Higher Educatio described the importace of web services, which use small compoets that ca easily exchage cotextualized data with oe aother ad be mixed ad matched. The Uiversity of Wiscosi Madiso, which estimates that roughly half of its IT budget is spet o itegratio issues ad efforts, is amog the may leadig istitutios movig to a service-orieted architecture (SOA) approach. Iteratioally, a iitiative called the e-framework for Educatio ad Research is facilitatig techical iteroperability ad SOA also called eterprise service architecture (ESA) withi ad across educatio ad research. Moreover, the ope source movemet, based o ope-architecture applicatios developed by collaborative commuities, cotiues to grow ad attract ew adherets who are disillusioed with the cost, iflexibility, ad upredictability of the existig products available from software vedors servig higher educatio. 18 Ope-architecture approaches are opeig up the stack of existig, tightly itegrated admiistrative ERP applicatios (studet, fiacial, huma resources, fiacial aid, alumi, advacemet) ad academic ERP applicatios (course maagemet ad acillary systems). New versios of ERP products, such as Oracle Fusio, are featurig a greater degree of opeess. 19 But tomorrow s actio aalytics solutios will ot be mere extesios of the ERP stack. Rather, they will leverage the ERP-based data, iformatio, ad cotext to drive ew performace improvemets, ad they will reside i a cloud of opearchitecture solutios, as portrayed i Figure 1. This cloud also icorporates potetial likages to the clouds that coect PC operatig systems (e.g., Apple, Liux, Microsoft) to software services delivered o the Iteret. This cloud is much more tha a extesio of the ERP stack. It serves as a orgaizig, aalyzig, ad presetig layer. It truly uleashes the power of actio aalytics by eablig ot just power users but also idividual users to access ad aalyze data, iformatio, Jauary/February 2008 Educause review 51

8 ad cotext ad to access ad portray the results: Draw data, iformatio, ad cotext from a wide variety of sources. These opearchitecture solutios will scrape data, iformatio, ad cotext from admiistrative ad academic ERP systems ad from structured ad ustructured data, iformatio, ad cotext cotaied i assessmet solutios. They will also feature iformatio o istitutioal aligmets: missio, visio, values, goals, strategies, ad actios at the istitutioal, college, departmetal, ad program levels, for example. Fially, they will icorporate data, iformatio, ad cotext from a broad array of exteral iformatio sources. Aalyze ad alig data, iformatio, ad cotext. These ivetive solutios will icorporate fresh combiatios of the familiar elemets of academic aalytics data marts/warehouses, ETL, OLAP, ad busiess itelligece tools but i user-friedly forms that are more affordable for the higher educatio market. Data miig ad predictive modelig will be itegral elemets of these cloud-based solutios. I additio, these solutios will icorporate assessmet maagemet ad aligmet tools that eable decisio-makers to demostrate istitutioal aligmet ad cotext i the aalytics. 20 This is a critical elemet for seamlessly likig strategic plaig, resource allocatio, accreditatio, program review, ad cotiuous improvemet processes ad for embeddig cotextualized measuremet i those processes. Aligmet tools are especially critical to solutios dealig with (1) multicampus istitutios or systems, (2) peer istitutio comparisos ad state-level metrics, (3) the cascadig of istitutioal goals ad strategies dow to the campus, college, departmet, ad program levels, ad (4) the aggregatig of measuremets up to istitutioal totals ad state levels. Moreover, the ew geeratio of customer relatioship maagemet (CRM) capabilities will be more ope ad affordable ad better suited to higher educatio. Fially, these solutios will iclude iche applicatios, such as dashboardig ad alert systems tied to istitutioal metrics that trigger itrusive advisig ad itervetio actios. To truly put the actio ito aalytics, higher educatio istitutios eed committed leaders who will cosciously build orgaizatioal capacity to measure ad improve performace ad to chage orgaizatioal culture ad behavior. Access ad portray results through a combiatio of presetatio tools: dashboard, portal, ad portfolio capabilities. The presetatio modes for aalytics will proliferate ad will provide a palette of optios that ca be combied. Users will be able to access high-level presetatios, dyamically modify the variables of aalysis, ad drill dow to greater detail eve to idividual iformatio/cotext elemets. Although this ew geeratio of userfriedly, highly cofigurable, ad more cost-effective ope-architecture solutios is a key igrediet i actio aalytics, these solutios are ot sufficiet by themselves. 21 To truly put the actio ito aalytics, higher educatio istitutios eed committed leaders who will cosciously build orgaizatioal capacity to measure ad improve performace ad to chage orgaizatioal culture ad behavior. Measurig ad Improvig Performace: Chagig Istitutioal Capacity, Culture, ad Behavior To istill a culture of measurig ad improvig performace, istitutioal leaders eed to develop performace measuremet ad improvemet strategies that urture a actio aalytics culture ad behavior; examie ad reivet existig busiess practices ad processes that icorporate aalytics; execute these performace strategies i a expeditioary maer, adaptig to chagig coditios ad opportuities; ad avigate ad lead a chage process to build orgaizatioal capacity, chage the orgaizatioal culture, ad foster ew behaviors that both eable ad reflect evidece-based decisio-makig ad actio. The last area chagig istitutioal capacity, culture, ad behavior ecompasses four capabilities: techology; iformatio; aalytics; ad iovatio. Most colleges ad uiversities have achieved the greatest sophisticatio i chagig techology capability, 52 Educause review Jauary/February 2008

9 Figure 2 with lesser levels of sophisticatio ad achievemet i iformatio, aalytics, ad iovatio capabilities. For each capability, Figure 2 portrays the elemets that are eeded to urture a culture favorable to actio aalytics. At ay time, istitutios are likely to be developig all four of these capabilities simultaeously, followig itertwied paths. Techology Capacity, Culture, ad Behavior To foster a actio aalytics culture, istitutios require a visio ad strategy for the techology ecology of the future ad for migratio paths to get there. They the must execute that strategy i a expeditioary maer, adjustig their visio ad strategy to fit chagig coditios. I a icreasigly opearchitecture world, istitutios will likely choose differet log-term strategies for evolvig ad/or replacig legacy ad/or curret ERP systems. May will pursue the strategy of opeig up existig admiistrative ad academic ERP capabilities ad leveragig them with ew, ope-architecture applicatios ad tools. Optimal actio aalytics solutios will deped o the right mix of techology ecology a more ope, itegrated stack ad loosely coupled cloud applicatios. Techology visio ad strategy must clearly covey a fudametal priciple: i order for istitutios to justify their ivestmets i IT capacity, they must aggressively leverage that techology to reduce costs ad ehace performace, ad they must be guided by actio aalytics that ot oly eable but also provoke decisio-makig ad actio. Merely improvig operatioal efficiecy will ever yield sufficiet value to justify the ivestmet. 22 As we have leared, the track record of value o ivestmet i higher educatio has bee disappoitig. ECAR research o the Y2K-stimulated roud of ERP implemetatios i the late 1990s demostrated that most istitutios failed to use ERP systems to sigificatly affect performace, ad ECAR research published i 2005 showed that busiess process reivetio i higher educatio had primarily addressed simple process-reivetio targets, takig a good eough posture. 23 Moreover, may istitutios have foud the iformatio ad reportig capacity of ERP ad busiess itelligece tools to be iadequate for actio aalytics solutios. 24 Although some istitutios have 54 Educause review Jauary/February 2008

10 demostrated the capacity to leverage ERP techology ad drive busiess-process reivetio that ivolves cross-cuttig, multifuctioal processes, 25 more aggressive techology visios, strategies, ad executio are ow required across higher educatio. The ew geeratio of actio aalytics will lead to robust solutios that support more-pervasive process reivetio ad iovatio. Iformatio Capacity, Culture, ad Behavior May istitutios have developed a strategy for evetually providig uified data access, strog idetity maagemet, sigle sig-o, ad reportig/ iformatio tools. Presetatio ad access are achieved through some combiatio of dashboards, portals, ad portfolios. May colleges ad uiversities have developed academic aalytics that iclude a collectio of tools such as opearchitecture data marts/warehouses, ETL, OLAP, reportig, ad dashboards. Today, most istitutios exist i a culture of iformatio ad reportig. To move beyod iformatio reportig, they eed to commit to collectig data o performace ad developig the aalytics ad iovatio capabilities eeded to tur performace iformatio ad cotext ito actio. As discussed, may of today s istitutios are awash i data, especially relatig to past performace (e.g., iformatio relatig to historical demad for past courses or past performace patters), but they are starved for actioable aalyses, especially relatig to curret ad ear-future eeds (e.g., evidece o what kids of courses ad programs will be i demad i two to three years ad whe to retire existig oes). As istitutios develop their aalytics capability, they will achieve ew isights ito ad advaces i their reportig capacity. These, i tur, will eable istitutios to add ew performace measures that better reflect chagig times. Aalytics Capacity, Culture, ad Behavior A simple measure of a istitutio s aalytics capability is its demostrated 56 Educause review Jauary/February 2008

11 ability to seamlessly move from data to aalysis to actio. Most colleges ad uiversities have developed some level of sophisticated aalytics capacities to support their busiess operatios. Leadigedge examples of performace aalytics typically bega with academic aalytics focusig o recruitig ad retetio. Addressig the eeds of at-risk learers with dyamic ad predictive modelig ad with aggressive itervetios is also a good iitiative to employ to itroduce aalytics. Performace-based executive dashboards ca provide a leverage poit as well. But most istitutios have a log way to go toward achievig eterprisewide aligmet, greater trasparecy, sophisticated aalyses that trigger actios, ad accoutability. To move the istitutio from reportig to evideced-based decisio-makig actio requires a visio ad a strategy for usig aalytics to create the sort of loosely coupled, actio aalytics capability depicted i Figure 1. This strategy must iclude carefully chose icetives to promote performace measuremet, to chage curret practices, ad to pursue iovatios that will improve performace ad value. Istitutios that have developed successful performace aalytics ad the culture to support them have focused o processes ad solutios rather tha o techology ad aalytic tools. They have committed to just do it through particular process-ehacemet ad problem-solvig opportuities, cotextualizig measuremets ad aalyses that improve processes ad makig decisios that lead to actio. The greatest challege of all i buildig a actio aalytics culture is chagig behaviors across the istitutio. Achievig faculty buy-i o performace measuremet ad improvemet ad the ogoig use of aalytics solutios i their istructioal practice is paramout to the istitutio s ability to build ad sustai a culture of evidecebased actio. It is thus o surprise that the leaders i performace aalytics ted to be for-profit istitutios, where faculty do ot gover the academic offerigs. The followig actios are characteristic of istitutios that are successful i performace aalytics: To geuiely improve performace, istitutioal leadership will eed to commit to greater levels of collaboratio ad iovatio both iside ad outside the campus boudaries. Leveragig academic aalytics with a focus o admissio ad retetio, with some faculty ivolvemet Utilizig performace dashboards at the board ad istitutioal executive level Separatig busiess processes ad academic support operatios from faculty decisio-makig Demostratig ew behaviors as a result of applyig actio aalytics durig the daily dialogues amog admiistrators, faculty, ad staff regardig outcomes, performace, ad fudig Istitutios are discoverig a variety of ways to achieve buy-i. Some begi by focusig o obvious goals, such as icreasig the success of at-risk studets ad improvig trasitios betwee school ad work. They the expad their goals to iclude other elemets of performace such as improvig recruitmet, retetio, ad graduatio rates. Other istitutios deploy user-friedly aalytics i ways that challege the curret istitutioal midset, broade the orgaizatioal discussios about performace, ad foster behavioral ad cultural chage. Over time, sage leadership ad commitmet ca develop the techology, iformatio, ad aalytics capabilities of colleges ad uiversities sufficietly to create more evidece-based ad actioorieted behavior ad culture. Iovatio Capacity, Culture, ad Behavior As istitutios build their capabilities i techology, iformatio, ad aalytics, they will become progressively more capable of measurig performace ad demostratig value. However, to geuiely improve performace, istitutioal leadership will eed to commit to greater levels of collaboratio ad iovatio both iside ad outside the campus boudaries. The istitutio s visio ad strategy for buildig orgaizatioal capacity must reflect this commitmet. Iovatio ca begi with idividual iitiatives, pilot projects, ad process reivetios focusig o sigle-ower activities. Most colleges ad uiversities favor small-scale, idividual iitiatives ad process reivetios, practicig iovatio with a lower case i. To ehace performace i a maer that makes a differece, istitutios ca use actio aalytics to justify successful performace-improvig iovatios beig cotextualized ad replicated across the istitutio. This ca result i eterprise-level iovatio iovatio with a capital I capable of supportig a istitutio that wats to become imbler tha competitors at exploitig opportuities to modify curriculum that ca meet customers eeds as they arise. Committed leadership ca also create opportuities for cross-cuttig process reivetio ad iovatios that improve performace. Fially, oe of the most importat iovatios that istitutios will udertake is growig their capacity to develop 58 Educause review Jauary/February 2008

12 Future istitutioal key performace idicators will still focus o access, affordability, ad success but i greater depth, more dyamically, ad proactively. ad implemet a set of ew key performace measures that comport with the eeds of learers ad employers i the ever-chagig world of the twety-first cetury. New Measures ad Key Performace Idicators The challege of creatig actio aalytics is complicated by the fact that the performace target is movig rapidly. Studets from the Uited States will icreasigly be competig for jobs worldwide. The skills, competecies, ad habits of mid required to be employable i today s flatteig world will ot be competitive differetiators i the world of five or te years from ow. The expoetially chagig pace of kowledge creatio, sharig, ad utilizatio will accelerate the ecessity of acquirig icreasigly complex, sophisticated, ad applied skills i teamwork, critical thikig, commuicatio, ad aggressive perpetual learig. Put simply, today s measures such as grades, trascripts, resumes, ad time-to-degree are already provig isufficiet to demostrate a idividual s performace ad potetial. New meas are emergig to commuicate ad demostrate competecies ad the capacity for high-level performace ad growth. Electroic portfolios are growig i acceptace i K-12, postsecodary, ad employer settigs ad i applicatios that spa these sectors. Rich represetatios of co-curricular egagemet are beig icorporated ito trascripts ad resumes. These mechaisms also facilitate more active egagemet of employers with teachers ad admiistrators to esure that the developmetal eeds for success i the rapidly chagig world of work are reflected i curricula ad learers experieces. Future istitutioal key performace idicators will still focus o access, affordability, ad success but i greater depth, more dyamically, ad proactively. Istitutios will eed to demostrate their performace o these three measures i compariso with other istitutios ad learig eterprises. Moreover, these idicators will be part of sophisticated balaced scorecard ad strategy map applicatios that illustrate the iterrelatioships betwee measures ad the actios take to improve them. 26 This will yield demostrable, sharable isights o what works i improvig performace i differet cotexts. Like MSCU, istitutios will eed to cosistetly use actio aalytics to trigger itervetios that improve value by affectig curret ad future outcomes ad that aticipate the eeds of at-risk groups, such as those who are curretly the target of servig the uderserved iitiatives. For idividual learers, represetatios that express the richess of the iformatio ad cotext of their achievemets ad their potetial for success must be ehaced by a order of magitude. Aalytics i use at colleges ad uiversities must be able to demostrate studets past achievemets as well as their capacity for future success i ways that highlight developmetal, reflective, ad represetatioal iformatio ad cotext. Istitutios must also adapt to employers icreasig use of software to idetify, validate, ad attract talet as fast ad as cheaply as possible. Additioally, alumi relatioships ca ad must be fostered by usig sophisticated data miig to chart ad commuicate prove learig pathways throughout active learig lives, cradle through multiple careers. The future world of actio aalytics will be highly learer-cetric. Learers at all stages will have a greater array of iformatio, choices, ad value propositios available to them. Good cousel from parets, teachers, metors, ad employers will be valued. Learers will have greater opportuities to shape their learig experieces ad share resposibility for their readiess ad success. These potetial chages will profoudly affect the role of learer as we kow it today. New Skills ad Habits of Mid for a Flatteig, Expoetially Chagig World I the flat world of Thomas Friedma, 27 the ew skills for the global ecoomy begi with a foudatio of curiosity, passio, metal flexibility, self-motivatio, ad psychological mobility. Cotiuously adaptig habits of mid ad skills will eable global citizes to play a umber of roles directly or through delegatio ad ifluece: Collaborators ad orchestrators, who are effective horizotal collaborators able to operate i, mobilize, ispire, ad maage a multidimesioal ad multicultural workforce Sythesizers, who create uexpected mash-ups with breakthrough results Explaiers, who brig disparate thigs together ad who ca tur complexity to simplicity, opeig the door to uforesee sythesizig Leveragers, who brig together the right people, resources, ad/or ideas to maximize ad move beyod the curret state, makig techology ad people more effective 60 Educause review Jauary/February 2008

13 Adapters, who brig depth of skills to a progressively wideig scope of situatios ad experieces Gree people, who balace sustaiability, reewability, ad ecoomic growth Passioate persoalizers, who serve a global cotext i which people require or demad a persoal touch, persoally delivered services, ad customized products Localizers, who uderstad the emergig global ifrastructure ad adapt all the ew tools it offers to local eeds ad demads Demostratig the capacity to fulfill these roles will require ew approaches to measurig ad represetig studets performace ad potetial approaches that highlight the learig outcomes that truly matter. Moreover, learers will eed to be more assertive i takig resposibility for buildig their capacity to succeed. These roles will become eve more complex ad demadig i the face of the cotiuig revolutio i kowledge creatio, sharig, ad utilizatio, as oted by Diaa Obliger. Extedig Friedma s argumet, Obliger described how idividuals will eed to demostrate their capabilities to perpetually icorporate ad iterpret ew kowledge by participatig effectively i highly diverse, exteded, ad trasatioal teams ad kowledge etworks. These teams ad etworks ot oly will iclude idividuals from all over the world but also will icorporate artificial itelligece (AI) agets ad avatars, social kowledge etworks, ad other meas of leveragig the collective kowledge capacity of the team or etwork. 28 Portable Portfolios of Demostrated Habits of Mid, Skills, ad Competecies I the evolvig workforce eviromet of the future, the curret cocept of K-12 ad/or college trascripts seems totally iadequate for meetig the eeds of learers, teachers, parets, ad employers. Evetually, portable, trasportable, ad fugible portfolios for learers will deploy actio aalytics at a persoal level. This could egage learers, teachers, parets, ad ultimately employers I the evolvig workforce eviromet of the future, the curret cocept of K-12 ad/or college trascripts seems totally iadequate for meetig the eeds of learers, teachers, parets, ad employers. i meaigful coversatios about the skills, capabilities, ad habits of mid eeded to be successful i the global workforce ad about the ways to esure that those requiremets are reflected cosistetly i Pre-K-12 curricula ad practice. Curret portfolio iitiatives i postsecodary educatio are largely see as specialized, departmetal solutios to support programmatic accreditatio ad are cofied withi the boudaries of the campus. But a few portfolio iitiatives that are combiig K-12, higher educatio, ad workforce settigs may show how to break this impasse. These iitiatives demostrate how portfolios ca be deployed to improve the performace of uderserved studets, to facilitate trasitios betwee school ad work, to commuicate both academic ad cocurricular accomplishmets, ad to eable employers to verify competecies. Whether some versio of today s portfolio offerigs or aother vehicle or medium emerges, the fact remais that i the future, Pre-K-20 will eed to provide far more robust solutios to commuicate the richess of learers accomplishmets. Ultimately, these tools ad solutios ad the processes that support them will become more powerful, more sigificat, easier to use, ad highly flexible. Just as the health care field is actively ivestigatig a persoal, electroic health care record for life, 29 so shall a lifelog persoal learig ad competecy record become a key elemet of measurig ad improvig learers performace. Still, the greatest challege will be achievig buy-i ad commitmet from admiistrators, faculty, learers, parets, ad employers to a effort that would chage the directio of performace measuremet ad require active participatio ad effort from all cocered. New Key Performace Idicators ad Actio Aalytics: A Future Focus Udoubtedly, the curret measures that appear i executive dashboards will morph as actio aalytics solutios spread across Pre-K-20 educatio ad the workforce. I particular, measures of learig attaimet ad accomplishmet are likely to expad dramatically, reflectig the kid of competecy ad capability demostratio requiremets suggested by Friedma ad Obliger. To date, most academic aalytics solutios have looked backward, takig what we kow about learers success to predict behavior i the ext semester or to itervee today with at-risk studets. But the ew geeratio of studets will place a high value o the deploymet of forward-lookig aalytics to help them secure good jobs, ad they will focus o their persoal ear-term ad medium-term opportuities. For example, the Uiversity of East Lodo 62 Educause review Jauary/February 2008

14 put actio ito aalytics to fid out why ot eough of its graduates received job offers at iterviews. The actios take ad applied systematically to the etire graduatig cohort oe studet at a time resulted i a turaroud from a sector-trailig positio to top-quartile performace. 30 O a larger scale, iitiatives like MSCU s actio aalytics utility proposal have the potetial to make sese of iformatio from across systems ad shape future policies, practices, itervetios, ad actios. Put simply, the actio aalytics of the future will better assess studets competecies. Usig idividualized plaig, advisig, ad best practices from cradle to career, these actio aalytics solutios will alig itervetios to facilitate retetio ad trasitios ad will fully maximize learers success. e Notes 1. The term academic aalytics, first used by WebCT, was itroduced by the EDUCAUSE Ceter for Applied Research (ECAR) i describig the customizatio of busiess itelligece tools ad practices i higher educatio: see Philip J. Goldstei, Academic Aalytics: The Uses of Maagemet Iformatio ad Techology i Higher Educatio, EDUCAUSE Ceter for Applied Research (ECAR) Research Study, vol. 8 (2005), < AalyticsThe/41161>. The potetial impact of kowledge services i higher educatio was addressed i Doald M. Norris, Paul Lefrere, ad Jo Maso, Makig Kowledge Services Work i Higher Educatio, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 41, o. 5 (September/October 2006), pp , < The impact of IT-eabled iovatio o performace was pioeered i William H. Graves, Improvig Istitutioal Performace through IT-Eabled Iovatio, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 40, o. 6 (November/December 2005), pp , < The July/August 2007 issue of EDUCAUSE Review (vol. 42, o. 4) icluded the followig articles: Bria Lamb, Dr. Mashup; or, Why Educators Should Lear to Stop Worryig ad Love the Remix ; Joh P. Campbell, Peter B. DeBlois, ad Diaa G. Obliger, Academic Aalytics: A New Tool for a New Era ; William H. Graves, Volutary Couter- Reformatio: Steppig Up to the Challege ; ad Bill Olivier, Havig Your Cake ad Eatig It: The e-framework s Service-Orieted Approach to IT i Higher Educatio. 3. Quality Couts 2007, From Cradle to Career: Coectig America Educatio from Birth through Adulthood, Educatio Week, vol. 26, issue 17 (Jauary 4, 2007), < toc/2007/01/04/idex.html>. 4. The term actio aalytics has bee trademarked by Strategic Iitiatives ad caot be used commercially without express permissio. 5. Stephe R. Ruth, E-Learig: A Fiacial ad Strategic Perspective, EDUCAUSE Quarterly, vol. 29, o. 1 (2006), < library/abstract/elearigafiaciala/39962>. 6. Aa Caraveli ad Doald M. Norris, Value 64 Educause review Jauary/February 2008

15 Added: New Leadership Goals i a Era of Accoutability, Uiversity Busiess, Jue 2006, < article.aspx?articleid=40>. 7. Campbell, DeBlois, ad Obliger, Academic Aalytics. 8. Jezabar Customer Success Story, Park Uiversity: Meetig the Needs of a Global Studet Body (Jezabar press release, 2005), < SuccessProfiles3.pdf>. 9. Goldstei, Academic Aalytics. 10. J. Bell, Trasformig Higher Educatio: Natioal Imperative State Resposibility (Washigto, D.C.: Natioal Coferece of State Legislatures, Blue Ribbo Commissio o Higher Educatio, 2006). 11. Coppi State Uiversity example from Lida L. Briggs, Miig Data to Fid Gold, Campus Techology, July 5, 2007, < 12. AcademyOe, Pesylvaia Public Colleges ad Uiversities Met Legislative Madate of House Bill 185, press release, July 2, 2007, < A1%20PA%20Update.pdf>. 13. Ro Bleed, A Disruptive Iovatio Arrives, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 42, o. 1 (Jauary/ February 2007), pp , < 14. Richard P. Keelig, ed., Learig Recosidered: A Campus-Wide Focus o the Studet Experiece (Natioal Associatio of Studet Persoel Admiistrators ad America College Persoel Associatio, Jauary 2004), < 15. Adrew Mytelka, Goverors to Colleges: Focus o the Ecoomy, Chroicle of Higher Educatio, August 3, Rebecca Sohmer, Mid the Gap: Reducig Disparities to Improve Regioal Competitiveess i the Twi Cities (Washigto, D.C.: Brookigs Istitutio, 2005), < reports/2005/10cities_sohmer/ _midthe gap.pdf>. 17. Coucil of State Govermets Iovatio Awards, 2005, < 8FBC-0A7927A450BC}&DE={A7F9D1B A28-AC BC3E26EB}>. 18. Norris, Lefrere, ad Maso, Makig Kowledge Services Work i Higher Educatio ; Jim Phelps ad Bria Busby, Service Orieted Architecture: What Is It, ad How Do We Get Oe? EDUCAUSE Quarterly, vol. 30, o. 3 (2007), p. 57, < coect.educause.edu/library/abstract/service OrietedArchi/44839>; Olivier, Havig Your Cake ad Eatig It ; Brad Wheeler, Ope Source 2010: Reflectios o 2007, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 42, o. 1 (Jauary/February 2007), < David W. Dodd, Busiess Itelligece: A Vital New Resource for Higher Educatio, College Plaig & Maagemet, August Phelps ad Busby, Service Orieted Architecture, p Assessmet maagemet/cotext tools have bee used (1) to support accreditatio processes, (2) to alig strategic plaig, resource allocatio, 66 Educause review Jauary/February 2008