| | 8 December 2017HIGHERReviewIN MY VIEWThe ubiquitous presence of technology mediating an increasing number of interactions and pro-cesses has translated into a world in which data is everywhere. This data, and the possible ways in which it is being used are both increasing at unprecedented rates. Higher education institutions are not immune to this tread. In fact, their operational characteristics make them ideal contexts where data is collected and analysed to derive actionable knowledge affecting their core activities. Most of the data reporting has occurred so far at the level of up-per management and, at least in the Australian context, due to strict government regulations. Institutions must collect comprehensive information about the progress of their stu-dents within the institution and report it at regular intervals to the designated bodies. Special units, either as part of the IT infrastructure, or as a separate entity typically labelled business intelligence has been performing these duties up to now. But these clearly delineated procedures are about to be seriously disrupted.Data is also collected at the level of educational pro-grams. Student scores are now stored for every assessment task, every written report, every quiz, and every midterm exam. Information about the trajectories that students follow through an increasingly varied set of programs is also being tracked. Up until now, this data was used solely for adminis-trative purposes directly related with the academic context. But, the commoditization of data analytic techniques allows educational institutions to use this data to study how stu-THE POTENTIAL OF DATA-SUPPORTED DECISION MAKING IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS By Abelardo Pardo, Associate Professor - School of Electrical & Information Engineering, The University of Sydney
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