Today sees the release of The Higher Education Commission’s report entitled:

From Bricks to Clicks – The Potential of Data and Analytics in Higher Education

As the authors describe it, the report:

undertakes a review of the current data landscape across English higher education institutions, looking at data collections, learning analytics and the current barriers to implementing better data management and data analytics. It then looks ahead to how the HE sector may change in the next 5-10 years, how institutions can take advantage of the exciting opportunities that greater engagement with data and analytics offer, and how HE students stand to benefit.

What worries me slightly about the report is that it feels like something which could have had a lot more impact if it was written maybe 3 or more years ago.

So much is happening within this space across universities and colleges, that the report risks being an attempt to catch-up, rather than inspire a leap forward.

I am looking forward to reading the report in full, and looking forward to how analytics and data might help transform academia and education over the next few years.

Update: An article entitled Students Don’t Need No Datafication from a lecturer in Spiked is an interesting view on the From Bricks to Clicks report.