1. REFLECTIONS ON DATA DRIVEN
DECISION-MAKING AND BUSINESS
INTELLIGENCE FOR LEARNING
ELLEN WAGNER
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WCET
Data Change Everything

2. PROFILES
Data Applications in Daily Life:
LOTS of Data. Anytime, All the Time
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3. Thanks to all your info, Facebook can predict
the probabilities of when your shaky
relationships will hit the skids!!
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4. CHARTS
GRAPHS
SCATTER-PLOTS
SURVEYS
LMS
ERP
RATING ENGINES
RANKING SYSTEMS
ETC.
We All Create, Collect and Interpret
Data in Our Work, Right??
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5. ACADEMIC RESEARCH AND DATA-
DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING HAVE
DIFFERENT INTENTIONS AND
OUTCOMES
NEWSFLASH!!!!!
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6. Interesting Data – but are
these data points actionable?
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7. Gartner Pattern Based Strategy, 2010:
 Moving from reacting to events that had major effects on
business strategy to proactively seeking patterns that
might indicate an impending event.
 The interest in Pattern-Based Strategy is likely to grow as
we understand the technologies that are emerging to
seek patterns
 from both traditional (financial information, customer order data,
inventory, etc.)
 nontraditional sources of information (social media, news, blogs).
Gartner Research, Inc. 3 August 2010
ID Number: G00205744. p.4

8. 2010 Gartner Hype Cycle for
Pattern Based Strategy
ON THE RISE
Pattern based Strategy
Collaborative Decision-
making
Social Network Analysis
Context Enriched
Services
Web Content Product
Recommendation
Engines
Performance Driven
Culture
Sentiment Analytics

9. Wait a minute…This is sounding awfully familiar…
 Pattern-Based Strategy is not only about technology, it
also requires cultural changes.
 Many organizations do not have a culture of seeking
patterns, modeling their impact and rapidly changing
the organizational culture to appropriately respond.
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10. THE LEARNING WORLD IS DISCOVERING WHAT
INTERNET MARKETERS HAVE KNOWN FOR
YEARS.
THE DIGITAL “BREADCRUMBS” THAT LEARNERS
LEAVE BEHIND ABOUT THEIR ENGAGEMENT
BEHAVIORS AND INTERESTS PROVIDE MASSIVE
AMOUNTS OF DATA THAT CAN BE MINED TO
IMPROVE AND PERSONALIZE ONLINE
LEARNING, EDUCATION, TRAINING AND
PERFORMANCE SUPPORT.
NEWSFLASH!!!!!!
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11. Learning enterprises have LOTS of
problems seeking an analytics solution
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12. What Education Decision Makers Are Looking For
 Assessment and evaluation that integrates contemporary
innovations in technology, pedagogy, accountability, and
applied research
 Actionable data visualization and reporting
 Technological, organizational and methodological
scaffolding to inform the efficacy of all aspects of
teaching and learning
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13. But Where to Begin?????
 Uncertainty about where to start
 No established industry best practice about what to measure
 No established industry best practice around methodology
 Higher Educational Culture and Status Quo
 Institutional concern about what the data will show
 Competing institutional priorities and lack of incentive for
collaboration between different groups
 Siloed data across the campus and campus systems sure don’t
help.
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14. ARE LEARNING
PROFESSIONALS REALLY
READY FOR THIS???
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15. Data-Driven Decision-Making
is Here to Stay
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16. It’s Not About the Data -
It’s What We Do With Them
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17. Institutions already have more
data than they can shake a stick at.
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18. I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT RESEARCH
I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT PUBS
I’M TALKING ABOUT USING DATA TO HELP US
GET SMARTER, PROVIDE BETTER SERVICES AND
MAKE BETTER DECISIONS FOR OUR INSTITUTIONS,
OUR STUDENTS AND OUR OWN PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Learning Technologists MUST to
Engage in the Data Driven
Decision-making Movement
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19. THANK YOU
Ellen D. Wagner, Ph.D.
 edwsonoma@gmail.com
 ellen@sageroadsolutions.com
 ewagner@wiche.edu
 http://elearningroadtrip.typepad.com
 http://twitter.com/edwsonoma
 +1.415.613.2690 mobile
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