When you’re a regular at a coffee shop, the baristas know you by name and have your order ready before you reach the counter. That’s what the higher ed experience should be like for students, says Jena Zangs, chief data and analytics officer the University of St. Thomas. She told EdTech how her institution collects and uses data to personalize the student journey.
EDTECH: How do you use data to inform student engagement strategies?
ZANGS: We have our routine KPIs that all universities typically have when they're looking at student engagement, such as class attendance. We’re looking at a variety of factors that allow us to see if we're hitting our goals. That's what we allow everyone around the university to see, because we want to be as transparent with the data as possible.
When you move down a layer, our data and analytics teams focus on predictive analytics and factors that most influence student retention. At the undergraduate and graduate level, we're trying to determine within the first six weeks of class the top features we should be paying attention to and where the business effort should be going. And then we look at whether they are going to come back from spring to fall.
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As we continue to expand our systems and more complexity is added, it gives us more data to play with and to understand. Things like door swipes, the books you’re checking out at the library, websites that you’re perusing for educational purposes or how many meals you have left on your meal account can all indicate whether you’re planning to stay or not. We are extremely transparent to our students about what we’re collecting and why we’re collecting it, so it’s never a secret.
EDTECH: How are you using data to deliver a personalized experience for students?
ZANGS: We really want our students to feel that we are providing information and a tailored experience wherever they’re interacting with us, which typically is on a phone or laptop. The data that’s connected behind the scenes is tailored to their specific demographics or activity information.
For example, we wanted to work with all of the advisers around campus. They have specific avenues, so if you’re an athlete or an international student, you have certain advisers and different options. We’ve been using data for automation, so when any student is going to look for help, it’s automatically showing what they’re looking for, and they can get to who they want right away.
We’re even building on that, working to build an AI-assisted adviser. The adviser would answer questions such as, “How can I change my major?” Instead of having to wait to meet with someone, you can have that pathway already extended for you. It uses the data in the background to showcase not only scenario planning but predictive analytics. If you’re looking at changing from marketing to engineering, it will show you your best pathway to have the fewest number of classes while also ensuring that you don’t have too heavy a course load. It’s been a really fun journey to think about how we can use agents in this space.
EDTECH: Why is it important for students to feel like their institution knows them well?
ZANGS: Higher ed is competing with the general consumer environment right now, where students are expecting instant results. They want 24/7 availability and simplicity. And up until now, we have not, as higher ed, been able to provide 24/7 support for these students.
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We can leverage data to really serve the whole person. We can help serve their intellectual side, their physical side and their spiritual side as well. Different varieties of data can inform how students are connecting with peers and whether they’re feeling that sense of belonging.
A lot of schools have been looking at data as a byproduct of the technology, when they need to be looking at it as a high-value asset to their universities. That’s exactly what companies outside of higher ed are doing and have been doing for a long time, so we’re just catching up. Leveraging the data and investing in it is critical to ensuring that the student feels that we know them. They’re already overwhelmed with so many life choices, and we can simplify those for them.
EDTECH: How can other universities use data to deliver a better student experience?
ZANGS: Be in the trenches with your business offices, as they are the ones who are working with the students firsthand. When those processes are going well, students are going to have a better experience. The data offices typically can see the whole picture because we are working with a variety of teams, whereas other teams are focused on their niche. Use that to your advantage so you can speak both the business language and the technical language.
Another way to boost student engagement is to include the students. Ask them for their feedback. That’s typically where the business collaboration works really well, because those teams already have those student relationships, and we want them at the forefront.
