Re-invention, and a Caution

I've discovered recently, after years of just being a "big nerd", that I am actually a Data Scientist.  Imagine!  But wait, let me take some credit....perhaps I was only in stealth mode.

This clever marketing of professionals every organization needs tickles me to no end.  I wish I'd thought of it.  Suddenly there is buzz about the shortage of us in the workforce.  I'm heartened by that recognition after my earlier rant in this space about the big data spree and the looming need for sense-making and pattern recognition among all those data points.

Readers...what kind of data scientists do you see being needed by your organizations?  What kind of information is most helpful to today's decision-making workforce, and where would you want to look to find it most easily?

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Complete topic change.  Lately I have gotten a couple of troubling data requests from "consultants" who want individual level student data.  We're not comfortable with that, largely because of privacy concerns, and also because of some federal legislation that we dislike to violate.  Messy...

In a few cases, these "consultants" have turned out to be marketing firms upon further examination.  Colleagues, please check out all outside requests.  Even one that looked legitimate on its face turned out to be unaffiliated with the research study it purported to sponsor.

May your zeroes and ones all land in the right fields.

Too many degrees/certificates?

In search of wisdom:  is there an optimal ratio of possible different degrees to the number of students you serve?  

Some institutions, notably the for-profits, and some who serve a large population of nontraditional students, find that a targeted suite of choices works well for them.  Others, notably community colleges and others with a more open enrollment, offer a wide range of degree and certificate possibilities.

I am in search of effectiveness…how do you decide?  How many degrees or certificates?  What makes for critical mass at your place in terms of number of students, organizational resources, and so on?  Is it a different model for different institutions?

In other news, we’ve survived another Spring term, wept a few happy tears for our graduates, and now we are looking at our summer project schedule.  I’m all excited because I finally hope to have time to do some modeling of how intent may relate to achievement, persistence, or completion for our students.

May you have clean data.

Reflecting on Reflecting

First, let's define our key term.  By reflection, I mean the ability to look back on experience, process, or systems, and seek knowledge from examining them in light of perspective gained from time's passage.

Reflection can help us refine our practices.  However, should we find ourselves in overwhelming circumstances, as many do in higher education in these busy times, the time and energy to engage in reflection may seem like a luxury that cannot be justified.  This is a mistake I have made myself.

Higher education attracts people with a passion for problem solving.  Fixers is the term I sometimes use to describe us.  We love to fix things, or help make them better.  I hate to admit this again...and again...but my father gave me good advice.  He suggested I couldn't fix everything, and that I should put some reasonable boundaries on what I attempted, so that I didn't burn out.  Are we all surprised that fixers violate this at every opportunity?  Not really...

What happens then is a pattern that I should probably recognize by now.  We accept more and more tasks, and eventually our load is greater than our ability to do a quality job at a more focused set of objectives. 

This is where building in reflection as a systematic practice can pay off.  The act of stopping everything and looking carefully at the effectiveness of the current set of efforts, and what effects one may or may not be having as a result, can redirect our passion where it can be the most useful to our organization and colleagues, and most healthy to ourselves.  That is what will keep us making the strongest contribution we can to the success of our students over the long term.

Sometimes I guess I just need to repeat the lesson.