While previous educational governance literature on datafication has paid attention to comparison across spatial entities like countries and schools, temporal comparison in terms of progression (including prediction) has received less attention. One of the material forms in which progression and prediction data are circulated is the visual form of…

Big Data offers opportunities and challenges in all aspects of human life. In relation to research ethics, Big Data represents a normative difference in degree rather than a difference in kind. Data are more messy, rapid, difficult to predict, and difficult to identify owners; but the principles of informed consent, confidentiality, and prevention…

The Australian Universities Accord Final Report offers a historic yet insufficient opportunity to advance Indigenous self-determination in higher education. Its goals will remain hollow without dismantling the entrenched colonial foundations embedded in universities' governance and data practices. This paper demands that Indigenous data…

States serve as the central authority in higher education oversight, playing a critical role in consumer protection and quality assurance within the regulatory triad and as an independent regulatory entity. However, there is a notable gap in understanding the components of renewal processes, how agencies implement them in practice, and the…

Student outcome data is essential for decision-making in higher education, informing choices at the student, institutional, and state levels. Within state authorization--the gatekeeping process for institutional entry, continued operation, and closure--these data support oversight, accountability, and consumer transparency. This brief summarizes…

As data-informed decision-making continues to evolve across multiple disciplines in higher education institutions, and as the role of research administration continues to expand from proposal submissions, compliance, and managing research and development expenditures to a profession with an active partnership with investigators to support…

While research on Learning Analytics (LA) is plentiful, it often prioritises perspectives on LA systems over the practical ways instructors use data to analyse and refine the learning process per se. The present study addresses this inadequacy by investigating how student data is employed by educators in UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and…

This article explores potential uses, misuses, beneficiaries, and tensions of learning analytics in higher education. While those promoting and using learning analytics generally agree that ethical practice is imperative, and student privacy and rights are important, navigating the complex maze of ethical dilemmas can be challenging, particularly…

The Grand Challenges for Assessment in Higher Education project is a collaborative effort of 10 endorsing organizations and over 400 volunteers to increase the extent to which assessment (1) supports equity; (2) is visible, actionable, and drives innovation; and (3) guides rapid improvements in pedagogy (Singer-Freeman and Robinson 2020). Several…

This chapter explores the potential of integrating conversational AI tools such as ChatGPT with data visualization (DV) tools such as Power BI in higher education settings. A brief history of chatbots is summarized and challenges and opportunities in higher education are outlined. The highlights include AI's prospects for enhancing data-informed…

In today's era of large-scale data, academic institutions, businesses, and government agencies are increasingly faced with heterogeneous datasets. Consequently, there is a growing need to develop effective methods for extracting meaningful insights from this type of data. Quantile, expectile, and expected shortfall regression methods offer useful…

This quantitative study investigates the predictive power of machine learning (ML) models on degree completion among adult learners in higher education, emphasizing the enhancement of data-driven decision-making (DDDM). By analyzing three ML models - Random Forest, Gradient-Boosting machine (GBM), and CART Decision Tree - within a not-for-profit,…

Higher education has faced increased pressure to prove its quality through 'economic efficiency' and 'value for money', thrusting institutions into what researchers call an 'audit culture'. This study explores whether and how the audit culture has impacted educational developers in Canadian post-secondary institutions. Results include a summary of…

Performance data in higher education has gone through a major development in the last few decades. Simple input measures have given way to increasingly nuanced and dynamic output measures and performance indicators have become an integral part of management at the organisational and system level. The evolution of higher education performance…

The Nebraska Statewide Workforce & Educational Reporting System (NSWERS) is a state longitudinal data system (SLDS) that coordinates data sharing, processing, and dissemination efforts across the Nebraska public school systems, Nebraska community colleges, the University of Nebraska system, the Nebraska Department of Labor, and other statewide…