Economic, Environmental, and Education Data Trends in Higher Education

Data has come a long way since the introduction of data warehouses in the mid-1980s. Back then, data warehousing was revolutionary, giving organizations the ability to manage their data to ask structured questions. For the first time, they had the ability to better understand what was happening at a detailed level.

As data grew and evolved, so did the way we managed and organized data. New technologies were created to increase the kinds of data that could be captured and expand the questions we could ask. Technologies like data lakes and data virtualization gave us the ability to store incredible amounts of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data more cost-effectively and answer questions we weren’t yet asking.

Now, exciting approaches like the data lakehouse are entering the stage, combining all these previous data technologies into a single, unified architecture that empowers organizations with incredible new opportunities that have never before been available.  

These data technologies are helping higher education create more efficient and long-lasting forms of data management. According to the Department of Education, "the U.S. DOE is calling the improvement of education through the use of student data systems a “national priority.” Emphasizing the fact that student data systems are the future for improving education in the United States. 

These technological trends of improving data management systems are important in understanding the evolution of data technologies, but how have economic, environmental, and educational trends played a part in this evolution?

Economic Trends

Recent years have seen increases in the constant competition institutions have with other colleges and universities around enrollment, engagement, and retention during a tumultuous and ever-changing financial climate. 

Data and analytic capabilities really are the best hope for colleges and universities to dynamically adapt and strategically keep pace with these ever-changing trends. 

The 2022 Educause Horizon Report - Data and Analytics Edition outlines several main economic trends that affect higher education institutions. Two trends we see as specific concerns are:

Firstly, the value and return on investment (ROI) of a college degree are being questioned.

Public opinion on the value of a college degree has been declining over the years as more companies are accepting nontraditional applicants for roles. Colleges and universities are turning to data to help provide evidence as to why this is happening. Unfortunately, many don't have reliable data on student work success and job placement, or access to national workforce and educational data in a format they can readily analyze against student data. 

The declining public opinion on the value of the college degree suggests that enrollment numbers will decrease over the next few years. According to the Horizon Report, the National Student Clearinghouse found that 2021 fall undergraduate enrollments declined 3.1% from fall 2020.

Understanding why enrollment numbers are shifting is critical for colleges and universities to understand what they can do to support their students and increase enrollment.

PRO TIP: With InvokeEnrollmentTracking™ (Learn More Here), colleges and universities can use their data to predict enrollment trends and keep updated with continually changing trends. 

Secondly, free or inexpensive certificates from nonaccredited platforms are becoming more common. 

The Horizon Report emphasizes that large corporations such as Google and Amazon are accepting applicants that have obtained certificates from nonaccredited platforms, placing these nontraditional forms of education and training alongside the college degree. Due to this, higher education institutions are experiencing competition for student enrollment from lower-cost programs. 

Between 2017 and 2022 the percentage of job postings that require a four-year degree dropped by 7%. 

Environmental Trends

Climate change coverage is ever-present in the news, and data centers critical for institutions require substantial amounts of energy consumption. Colleges and universities are looking for more sustainable and environmentally stable data analysis practices. 

The Horizon Report emphasizes several main environmental trends that affect higher education institutions. Two that we’ll highlight here are:

Firstly, the demand for green IT services is growing.

Data centers rely on a substantial amount of energy consumption to drive operations. This sizable carbon footprint is something that colleges and universities need to keep in mind when trying to make their practices more sustainable and environmentally friendly. 

According to the Horizon Report, solutions such as cloud computing and virtualization can reduce the use of physical devices and lower data center power consumption. 

Secondly, commuting patterns are changing due to the pandemic.

Since the pandemic, remote and hybrid work environments have greatly increased in popularity. A reduction in commuting to work with personal vehicles and mass transit systems will reduce the consumption of natural resources and emissions into the atmosphere. 

The ability to track how students commute to campus and how they work in a remote environment will allow colleges to better understand how to increase student success. InvokeEngagement™ (Learn More Here) allows colleges and universities to gain data on student behavioral characteristics each day as students shift from experiences in person and on campus or remote. 

Educational Trends

True Interaction has two main educational trends that are affecting higher education institutions. These trends are affecting how higher education institutions use and gather their data to help improve student success in their colleges and universities. 

Firstly, teachers and professors need to be involved in data analytics.

Teachers and professors know the best strategies to employ in terms of promoting student growth. By allowing teachers and professors to be involved in data analytics, colleges and universities will be able to increase student success in the classroom with the help of data gained through everyday activities. 

InvokeStudentSuccess™ (Learn More Here) looks at daily student actions and behaviors to predict success and failure in reaching desired outcomes, alerting colleges and universities early to intervention needs. This allows teachers and professors to take action faster and help students struggling to keep up with their peers.

Secondly, colleges and universities need to promote the use of personalized learning. 

No two students are the same. All students learn at a different pace and engage better in different environments. According to True Interaction, 69% of teachers surveyed by the Gates Foundation believe that improving student achievement depends on tailoring instruction to meet individual students’ needs. 

Solutions like InvokeClarity™ (Learn More Here), are helping institutions quickly connect the dots from multiple sources across a student’s academic, social, behavioral, and emotional experiences and may help teachers gain a fuller picture of each student. 

What can Invoke Learning do to help higher education follow these trends?

With our revolutionary technology, Invoke Learning has quite literally rewrote the book on what’s possible with data in higher education. With solutions like InvokeClarity™, InvokeEnrollment™, InvokeEngagement™, InvokeStudentSuccess™, and more (Check Out More Solutions Here), Invoke Learning has a solution to higher education’s most challenging questions. 

Stay ahead of the trends and ask questions you never imagined could be answered. Get unprecedented insights that lead to mission-impacting action.

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