Data Driven Decisions For Control or Cover
David Clemens of the National Association of Scholars has a great piece about the new "data driven" culture in education. Like him, I think if I hear one more person tell me that their process is data driven I am going to scream. Data, on it its own, is like the wind for a sailboat. It can be used to move you, but without sophisticated equipment and navigation knowledge it tends to just push you in one random direction. Like the wind, data can be manipulated to move you in any direction you like. The data itself is not as important as the person using it to steer. When anyone tells you their process is data driven, take a good look at who is at the helm. (to complete the sailing metaphor) Watch when they pull the tiller hard to windward, you are about to jibe and could get smacked in the head by the fast moving boom.
Higher Education and the Perfect Data Storm
Higher Education and the Perfect Data Storm
David Clemens teaches English at Monterey Peninsula College, where he founded and coordinates the Great Books Certificate Program.
Consensus has it that we are living in the Age of Big Data. When our college president was hired, he declared himself “data driven”; during interviews for vice president of academic affairs, all three finalists announced that they, too, were “data driven” (though none could
Consensus has it that we are living in the Age of Big Data. When our college president was hired, he declared himself “data driven”; during interviews for vice president of academic affairs, all three finalists announced that they, too, were “data driven” (though none could