ABSTRACT
Student feedback collected by higher education institutions provides an important source of data to inform decisions made at various organisational levels. Key stakeholder groups at the institutional level, responsible for planning and implementing strategies for the desired direction of a university, generally rely on insights gained from quantitative data. Whereas qualitative data from students’ perspectives tend to be overlooked, even though student comments can provide more nuanced information.
This chapter describes an initiative at an Australian university, both what has been accomplished and what is currently underway, to maximise the use of student feedback in its richness and complexity, through the analyses of quantitative and qualitative data. Where feasible, the findings from student feedback are used in conjunction with other relevant data (indicators of enrolment, retention rate, achievement, etc.) for program review and accreditation. This educational analytics endeavour is supporting the decision-making and problem-solving processes in the university, by empowering summary reports for specific purposes with access to more contextual and granular information. The factors influencing institutional data analyses are common across the higher education sector. There is significant potential for text analytics being further incorporated in educational analytics, and thus influence the strategic direction of an institution or sector.
