Use of Data Analytics for Program Impact Evaluation and Enhancement of Faculty/Staff Development

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the use of data analytics to satisfy the accountability demands (summative evaluation) of higher education, while contributing to faculty and staff development in the process (formative evaluation). By situating the data analytics process within a strategic questioning framework, the inquiry has focused on the evaluation of the impact of the programs and services provided by an academic development center at a large research university in the United States. The analytics data, primary findings, have been critiqued and incorporated to enhance further staff and professional development at the center. The findings have also been benchmarked with relevant analytics data from other academic development centers in Europe and Australasia to provide comparative performance measures. The key contribution of the use of data analytics to academic development is its potential to catalyze a data-driven culture that would adequately respond to the 21st century accountability ethos of higher education with systematic, valid, and useful impact/performance measures.