Predictive Analytics: Can It Amplify Student Success?
Higher education institutions spend millions on Student Enrollment. They invest large sums of money in internet marketing, admission counselors. Thus, when these prospective students don’t enroll, educational institutions suffer huge losses. If these students enroll and aren’t engaged in the learning process, the organizations are again bound to incur losses due to lower graduation and student retention rates. Predictive Analytics ensures it doesn’t come to that.
What is Predictive Analytics?
Predictive analytics is a “statistical analysis” of historical data already stored with the institutions to uncover patterns and relationships that can help predict behaviors and future events. Data-driven insights obtained from predictive analytics, if leveraged effectively, can play a major role in Increasing the Enrollment and Retention Rates of the institutions while improving their students’ overall academic experience.
Predictive Analytics in Higher Education:
In the higher education space, predictive analytics can be used to foretell which students are most likely to enroll, identify the students at risk for attrition, determine the ones most likely to persist and graduate. Educational institutions, using predictive analytics, can increase their operational efficiency and improve retention and graduation rates by customizing students’ learning experience. Evidence-based findings extracted using predictive analytics, help instructors pinpoint students’ learning deficits, identify students in need of advising services, and intervene in time.
Listed below are the ways predictive analytics ensures student success by enhancing student enrollment, student engagement, and student retention:
Increase Student Enrollment
Institutions spend millions on student recruitments. They invest large sums of money in internet marketing, admission counselors. Thus, when prospective students don’t enroll, educational institutions have to suffer huge losses. Predictive models including factors like demographic data, standardized test scores, prior academic results, class attendance, student behavior (i.e. whether or not students take advantage of tutoring services), and course-taking patterns in college and high school can help institutions predict which students are most likely to enroll, increasing the institutional returns.
Ensure Better Student Engagement
Data based findings of predictive analytics can be used to modify students’ learning routes based on each student’s individual needs, giving them a positive academic experience. This data can be used to design adaptive courseware, assessment methods to accelerate student success. Using predictive analytics in higher education, course recommendation systems can be put in place to help students choose courses that they are most likely to succeed in. Predictive analytics in the higher education realm generates actionable information that institutions can capitalize upon to improve student learning outcomes.
Improve student retention rates
By analyzing data-driven patterns procured from predictive analytics, instructors can identify students most at risk of dropping out, the learning areas where they are facing problems, or are losing interest, and can design the courseware that helps them learn best. This timely intervention by the instructors helps increase student retention rates considerably and has significant implications for a university’s fiscal position.
The bottom-line:
With the rising costs of higher education, it becomes imperative for the educational institutions to retain the enrolled students, to balance the resources used to recruit them with the revenue generated from their retention. Predictive analytics, with its reliable information and patterns extracted from preexisting data, can help address these challenges and ensure students as well as institutional success. While it comes with its own dangers and challenges, predictive analytics has the potential to change our educational spaces for good!
Anthony Banford is an esteemed executive with 19 years of experience in technology, consulting, and education. He begins his latest chapter as Chief Revenue Officer at BlackBeltHelp, aiming to innovate in the higher education support industry. His move follows a successful stint as Head of Revenue at StudentBridge since March 2023, where he significantly contributed to the company’s merger with Full Measure Education, enhancing its service offerings.
Todd Hollrah joins BlackBeltHelp bringing 25+ years of experience managing service delivery operations for several Fortune 500 clients around the globe. After a distinguished career as an executive in the BPO industry, Todd will provide critical insight into building an exceptional customer experience combining both live voice and automated solutions.
Inspired by a family computer that always needed fixing, Chris Uthe has submerged himself in business and technology for the last 20 years. His first company, a PC repair and networking business, was started at just 16 and successfully fueled a deep interest in solving problems as he helped business customers throughout his hometown adopt technology into their business. He would go on to successfully run a media & managed IT company before joining the Ed Tech industry with a successful 13-year tenure within an ERP/SIS company leading the Student Portal & Learning Management division. His last startup, EdSolio, helped to fuel the winds of competency-based education by providing a comprehensive view of a student’s work and achievements. Chris is now focused on creating successful learners by ensuring the highest quality help and support through the use of AI backed toolsets spending the last 3 years in the student engagement and support markets.
Quaiser Absar is the Chief Technology Officer and Director of Institutional Computing at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia.
Bringing in over 2 decades of experience with him, Manish has ensured seamless operations in terms of client delivery, reporting & analytics, quality, training, and transitions with a special focus on technical integrations to help reduce costs and improve the bottom-line.
Anthony has served higher education in diverse, leadership roles for over 30 years and has helped organizations thrive through his expertise in developing, analyzing, and executing growth strategies. Prior to joining BlackBeltHelp, he served in College Administration as well as in leadership roles within Blackboard Student Services and Ellucian, Inc.
Accomplished IT Specialist and Manager with extensive experience in a higher education setting and demonstrated abilities to effectively manage both student and professional staff. Self-motivated problem solver, who is skilled in managing many issues and prioritizing their importance to find resolutions in a timely and effective manner. Possesses strong abilities to adapt to new technologies by extrapolating from existing experience. Possess first-rate communication and collaboration skills to work with diverse groups effectively.
Lila Buytendorp has been serving as the Director of User Services at Moraine Park Technical College (MPTC) since 2000. In this role she is responsible for staff & lab desktop computing and end user support. She guides and supports technology based on the curriculum needs and ensures technology is implemented to support the emerging needs of the college. She builds and supports integrated systems to improve efficiencies and uses technologies to support data-driven decision making. Lila is a member of the Capital Projects Planning and Design Committee to ensure new or remodeled facilities have appropriate technology.