Colleges and universities have many ways to gather information on their
students, from course selection to analyzing social media usage. Columbia Basin
College (CBC), Pasco, WA, is working on a plan to put such information to use.
The college is proposing to track its students by classes and
grades, archived records, and information generated by students on social
networks, particularly Facebook since students use it to list preferences on a
whole range of issues, according to a report in eCampus
News. It’s hoped the information will give the school a clearer understanding
about best teaching methods, subjects students are interested in, and the services
they need.
CBC’s timing is practically flawless. The
University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research recently
released a survey of 456 four-year colleges and universities in the 2010-11
academic year that showed Twitter use has expanded 84% since 2008-09 and 98% of
responding schools reported using Facebook.
The problem for CBC is its computer system is outdated
and the data it wants to use are scattered across servers, networks, and
storage locations that aren’t connected. The college is meeting with a data-management
firm about its plans but understands the project will likely take more than a
year to complete.
