EDTECH: What advice would you give to somebody who is where you were a little over a year ago?
BARNETT: First and foremost, communication is key. I regularly work with 46 data stewards and all their team members, about 200 people total. I don’t have inquiries from each of them in my inbox every day, but they do have questions, and I absolutely need to communicate with them to advance our governance initiative. I also put people in connection with one another when needed. Higher Education Data Governance (HEDGe) has also provided a wealth of knowledge and wonderful connections with people across the United States and internationally. On a daily basis, I’m very much into the details of data governance at Georgia State. But at the same time, Georgia State is part of a university system where there are 26 other institutions that are a part of this, where data governance was mandated in 2019. When I speak with my fellow colleagues at Georgia Tech or at other universities in the system, like Augusta, I learn what their challenges are, and it puts what we’re working on at Georgia State into perspective. To return to that theme of relationships, you also need to establish them at your own institution and among your own peers across the higher ed landscape.
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EDTECH: What are you looking forward to accomplishing as data governance in higher education continues to develop?
BARNETT: Universities are going to increasingly feel the need to use their data in new ways to answer pressing questions. With use comes responsibility, and they will need to firm up that foundation. So, I’m looking forward to seeing the expansion of data governance throughout higher ed. Data is an asset, and it needs to be taken care of. Again, it’s not sexy like analytics, where the focus is on results and visualizations. But governance is the foundation. You wouldn’t want a house without a foundation. It’s not the thing you think about all the time, but it is important and it needs to be there.