The research problem addressed in this study is that racial bias programmed into predictive algorithm recommendations negatively impacts students in historically underrepresented groups. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the perception of algorithm accuracy among data professionals in higher education and explore the…

Purpose: This study aims to explore the perception of algorithm accuracy among data professionals in higher education. Design/methodology/approach: Social justice theory guided the qualitative descriptive study and emphasized four principles: access, participation, equity and human rights. Data collection included eight online open-ended…

This dissertation is aimed at assisting higher education leaders, IT professionals, and administrators in understanding data security risks that institutions face and how employee understanding and behavior can increase or reduce data security risk. The study aims to measure the relationship between financial aid administrator data security…

This paper describes the Berlin "Abitur" examination in the twentieth century and its written documentation in files. By the late nineteenth century, the "Abitur" examination was fully established in Prussia and with it a graduation certificate that was obligatory for university entrance. Thus, the "Abitur"…

Student privacy is a critical area of higher education that deserves greater focus, particularly as student data digitalization increases. Many colleges and universities use data literacy as a way to prepare students, sometimes from different disciplines, to work with others' data postgraduation. Data literacy can be an avenue for helping all…

Whilst learning analytics is still nascent in most African higher education institutions, many African higher education institutions use learning platforms and analytic services from providers "outside" of the African continent. A critical consideration of the protection of data privacy on the African continent and its implications for…

Objective: To determine levels of Electronic Health Record (EHR) satisfaction in order to add to the body of knowledge and assist professionals in the college/university health field with system/vendor selection. Methods: Nine health centers, all within highly selective colleges and universities, participated in this benchmarking study.…

Online program managers (OPMs) are third-party companies that work with colleges and universities to develop, launch, and deliver online learning. The prevalence of OPMs, however, has important implications for higher education program quality and transparency. In the final piece of our four-part series, higher education scholars establish a…

Based on a review of 48 online program manager (OPM) contracts and 44 chief online learning officer (COLO) interviews, this policy brief highlights potentially problematic contract provisions between colleges and OPMs, raising concerns about their effects on federal compliance, students' learning, and openness about government contracting.…

We study how colleges shape their students' voting habits by linking millions of SAT takers to their college-enrollment and voting histories. To begin, we show that the fraction of students from a particular college who vote varies systematically by the college's attributes (e.g. increasing with selectivity) but also that seemingly similar…

As institutions of higher education increasingly look to data as evidence to support planning, allocate resources, and inform teaching and pedagogy, ethical considerations regarding learning analytics have evolved from being on the margins to more central in the conversations surrounding institutional uses of student data. After outlining this…

White-label programs in higher education, designed and supported by online program management (OPM) firms, pose unique challenges to current policy. In part this is because OPM firms and services are either exempt from policy or fall into a gray area that policy has not yet considered. Policymakers, however, do not need to develop entirely new…

In studies that generate course recommendations based on similarity, the typical enrollment data used for model training consists only of one record per student-course pair. In this study, we explore and quantify the additional signal present in course transaction data, which includes a more granular account of student administrative interactions…

The Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR)--defined as a verifiable, portable, interoperable digital asset that recognizes all learning--is currently a topic of interest in the postsecondary and workplace ecosystem. The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) and The EvoLLLution conducted a survey of CAEL higher education members and The…

The problem addressed by this study is the strategies analysts need in higher education institutions to improve the protection of personally identifiable and sensitive data. The qualitative exploratory design was used to examine the strategies used by nine analysts. The combined experience of the nine analysts in data analytics, cyber security,…