“Big data”
is one of the hot buzzwords circling the business, technology, and education
sectors these days. It’s not really a new concept—the smart players have been
collecting and crunching numbers and data points all along—but system
enhancements are making it possible to gather more data than before and more
people are becoming aware of the power of data analysis.
In his
Thought Leader educational session at the Campus Market Expo (CAMEX) 2013 in
Kansas City, MO, Michael Wesch offered an anecdote that illustrates that power.
He is the associate professor of cultural anthropology, Coffman Chair for Distinguished Teaching
Scholars, Kansas State University, Manhattan, and U.S. Professor of the Year.
Wesch
told the audience that a colleague became incensed when Target sent his 15-year-old
daughter a mailer touting pregnancy and baby products. The colleague complained
at the local store. A few days later, he returned to apologize. “It turns out
Target knew the daughter was pregnant before he did,” Wesch explained.
Target
didn’t actually know that, but had surmised the situation when the daughter
bought two particular products at the same time. Purchased separately, the
products meant nothing. But purchased together, according to Target’s data
profiling, indicated there was a high probability the consumer was expecting. The
dual purchase automatically triggered Target’s targeted mailer.
The
anecdote shows that big data involves more than simply counting up consumer
actions. The real value is in correlating data to create a profile of future
actions.
In
the education world, Wesch noted, software developers are trying to build
similar profiles of student learning behaviors. He cited a couple of examples: Learning
management systems, such as Blackboard, are exploring the huge potential in the
big data they collect on users. The Knewton adaptive learning platform employs
data analysis to guide learners through progressive levels of questions.
