Date: Friday
Time: 09.00-10.00
Room: Mary Ogilvie Lecture Theatre
Chair: Paul Rich, President, Policy Studies Organization
Dr Wally Boston, President, American Public University System
Dr Frank McCluskey, Vice President, American Public University System
Dr Phil Ice, VP of Research and Development, American Public University System
Outline
Big data has arrived in higher education. It has married with some of the technologies in online learning. It is our contention that many elements of qualitative assessment will soon give way to quantitative analytics. The panel members have been involved with a major grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that is seeking a common data set that could work between different types of higher education institutions. The speakers will cover recent developments on predictive analytics in the United States, the political elements involved in this evolution and what data sets and variables they have employed. Using the Community of Inquiry framework, the panel members will show how predictive analytics can be employed in an online environment. They will provide a map of one way that analytics can improve online learning.