NTU's Use of Micro Focus IDOL Platform to Reduce Student Dropout Rates, Exams of Database Management Systems (DBMS)

Download NTU's Use of Micro Focus IDOL Platform to Reduce Student Dropout Rates and more Exams Database Management Systems (DBMS) in PDF only on Docsity! Overview Nottingham Trent University has an excellent reputation for preparing students for post graduation employment. But the university wants to keep improving its graduation rate, even as it increasingly recruits students that are at greater risk of dropping out. So it imple- mented a sophisticated data analytics appli- cation from Micro Focus IDOL Information & Data Analytics Platform that allows it to more quickly detect issues with student engage- ment, which in turn enables the university to intervene in time to keep its students on track. With around 28,000 students, Nottingham Trent University (NTU), located in the Midlands region of Central England, is one of the largest universities in the United Kingdom. It also has one of the U.K.’s best employability records. Nearly 93 percent of NTU’s students earn their degrees; 94 percent of its graduates either find full-time work or continue their education within six months of completing their NTU studies. NTU’s success in launching students’ careers is partly a reflection of its history, focus, and culture. The university has a strong history in the fields of design and polytechnic studies. Its manifesto, Creating the University of the Future, states that every NTU course should reflect strong links to employers; NTU meets this objective by cultivating strong, collabora- tive relationships with the business community. But NTU relies on more than manifestos and relationships to serve its students. It also leverages technology—including a cutting- edge analytics application powered by IDOL. Challenge Expanding Enrollment Includes More at-Risk Students NTU has always had a low drop-out rate, notes Mike Day, the university’s Director of Information Systems. At about 7 percent, Day says, the university dropout rate is “better than sector average.” But NTU knows better than to assume that its current success will continue—particularly as its student body demographic evolves. NTU’s Nottingham Trent University Sophisticated data analytics from Micro Focus help enhance programs to reduce dropout rates of students. At a Glance ■ Industry Education ■ Location England ■ Challenge Improve the ability to reduce student dropout rates. ■ Products and Services Micro Focus IDOL Information & Data Analytics Platform ■ Success Highlights + Able to detect when students become disengaged from studies one to two months earlier than was possible before + In 90 percent of cases, early intervention resulted in upturn in student engagement + Reducing dropout rates helps protect student investment in tuition (£9,000 annually) and board + Successfully paired and correlated 600TB of structured and unstructured data to support robust and comprehensive analytics Case Study Information Management and Governance “IDOL is helping us improve student engagement—which makes us an even better university.” MIKE DAY Director of Information Systems Nottingham Trent University Case Study Nottingham Trent University 2 enrollment is growing. It expects to add around 2,000 students over the next few years. Equally significant, the percentage of students the university classifies as “widening participa- tion” students will likely rise. Students in this category typically come from lower socio- economic areas. Often, they represent the first generation in their families to attend university. As a result, these students may lack confi- dence in their ability to navigate the university system. They may not take advantage of its academic and counseling support systems. “We’ve come to call them ‘doubter students’”, says Day. “When they struggle, they believe it’s their fault, and so they typically don’t ask for help.” NTU’s challenge was to identify which stu- dents were either struggling or—better yet—at risk of encountering academic challenges. If it could identify those students quickly enough, it could intervene by proactively reaching out to them to offer guidance and support. Solution Structured and Unstructured Data Requires Innovative Approach The university started by considering the data footprint students leave as they move about the university campuses and use its facili- ties and services. Students swipe their smart cards to enter buildings, use printers, use li- braries, and access learning management systems. “We wanted to see whether those things would give us some indication as to how well students were engaged in their stud- ies and therefore whether they’re struggling or not,” says Day. While some of the university’s 600TB of stu- dent data is structured, much of it is not. The university discovered that it was virtually im- possible to integrate its disparate datasets us- ing traditional business intelligence tools. So instead, NTU engaged with Micro Focus part- ner DTP Solutionpath to implement an IDOL business analytics application. To build the solution, NTU provided DTP Solutionpath with five years’ worth of back data. Then, working closely with the university’s IT team, the vendor used IDOL analytics to create what Day calls “a model of engagement”: data combinations that indicate levels of student engagement— or disengagement. DTP Solutionpath also built a dashboard that lets students visualize their engagement. It is a very simple visualization, Day explains. “It’s two lines on a chart. One of those lines is the average engagements of the cohort on a course-by-course basis. The other line is the individual student’s engagement compared to that average engagement in the course.” Student Privacy Paramount Another, equally important aspect of the mod- eling was student privacy. The university had to make sure the application was in full compli- ance with U.K. Data Protection law. In addition, NTU worked with its students and staff to un- derstand how they would view its data collec- tion and analysis procedures. “We worked very hard … to understand what would be accept- able and what wouldn’t,” explains Day, noting