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Bring Data
6/15/2005
Maybe Deming’s quip really is part of the consensual, cultural wisdom in Texas. Perhaps Deming, who was born in Iowa, earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Wyoming, completed his doctorate at Yale, and lived most of his adult life in Washington DC, appropriated the quip from a passing Texan he met during his travels.
What Good Is This Stuff?
But let’s focus on meaning, not origins. And there is little doubt about the meaning of Sec. Spellings’ message: Bring data! Indeed, the bring data! message is gathering steam (and creating some storms) across all sectors of education, both K-12 and postsecondary.
Whether we prefer Deming or Spellings as the messenger, the bring data! mandate has special meaning for those of us in and around campus IT operations and initiatives. On one level, it speaks to the growing “trust but verify” message about campus IT investments and initiatives described in my October 2004 Digital Tweed column: “The ongoing investment in technology seems to lead to still more investments in IT—without documented enhancements in productivity, enhanced educational outcomes, or reduced costs.”
Additionally, the bring data! mandate means—as I noted in my April 2004 Digital Tweed column—that we must make the transition from epiphany to evidence in our conversations about the impact of IT. “Evidence by (individual or institutional) epiphany fails to provide the much-needed data and documentation required to respond to questions about the impact and benefits of technology in instruction and institutional operations…the quest for evidence about IT beyond epiphany means that we must simply do more assessment, do it better, and begin doing it now.”
IT has become integral to the bring data! mandate. IT operations are the repository for the data that are critical to assessment and outcome measurement, be those assessments and evaluations focused on student retention, academic performance, the impact of new curricula, or even the “return on investment” for information technology.
Right Hand, Meet Left Hand
The disparate data from student information systems, campus financial systems, HR/personnel files, alumni offices and development programs, and databases large and small that are scattered across our campuses are now the core resources in the new world of assessment and outcomes. The business intelligence and data mining tools that allowed Wal-Mart to discover a surprising run on beer in its Florida stores ahead of last fall’s tropical storms are the same tools that colleges and universities will have to deploy to respond to the mandates (some new and some ignored for years but now enforced) from accrediting associations, government agencies, and other sponsors who demand hard data documenting impacts and wanting real evidence about institutional outcomes.
We can (and should) debate the politics that too often seem interwoven in the public pronouncements about assessment and institutional performance. But there is not much room to argue about the need for thoughtful and informed assessment initiatives and outcome measures. In IT and elsewhere, the new mantra is—or should be—bring data!
This is a preview of the Digital Tweed column that will appear in the July issue of Campus Technology.
Kenneth C. Green, visiting scholar at The Claremont Graduate University, is the founding director of The Campus Computing Project, a comprehensive, continuing study of the role of information technology at higher education institutions in the United States (www.campuscomputing.net).
View more articles by Kenneth Green.
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