New data analytics tools are being pioneered in the UC system and around the country to track and support student success at the classroom, program, and institutional level. Some of these tools are already available to advisers and others will soon be available to instructors at UC Santa Cruz.

The 2019-20 Data Fellows learning community of faculty and staff will meet monthly during the academic year to focus on the question of which kinds of data should be available to staff and faculty, and how we will be prepared and guided to use the data shared with us.

Questions that the group will consider include:

• What approach should the campus take to preparing faculty and staff to make use of data provided about individual student performance, or data related to courses, departments, and divisions?
• What is the place of “early warning systems” (high- or low-tech) and other predictive analytics in higher education, including higher education pedagogy?
• What kinds of data should be accessible to instructors, advisors, and students themselves?
  Can the use of student learning data and other learning analytics decrease rather than simply increase faculty and staff workloads?
• When, if ever, is it appropriate to compare the performance of individual students, of departments, or of instructors using such data?
• How can we support faculty and staff to become informed and responsible users of data?