People are excited about the potential of big data in education because they have seen the impact of data both in other scientific fields, but also in business. Imagine the potential for learning gains if schools relied on data about their students as much online retailers and social media sites do for their customers and users.

Another reason for excitement is the increasing availability of data on learning as educational technology is increasingly being widely adopted. The need for better evidence to guide educational programs is another important factor. Not only have we seen a push for greater accountability to student learning outcomes in K-12 education, critics of college-level education have also pressed on whether students are learning as much as they should. Policy-makers have been calling for evidence-based design and decision making in education so as to greatly improve practices and student outcomes. These are great opportunities for big data in education.

The Simon Initiative and CMU's Involvement in the EDM movement

CMU and the Simon Initiative has been and continues to be at the forefront of the EDM movement. Educational Data Mining was started by Ryan Baker, HCI PhD and original director of DataShop; John Stamper, HCI faculty and current director of DataShop; and Joe Beck, former CMU postdoc, along with others. A large fraction of published papers at EDM conferences also come from CMU. Since 2008, CMU has won a number of best paper awards at EDM, including in 2008, 2012, 2013.

How is the data being used?

The educational data mining community is using the large amounts of data to validate research findings at scale. It also helps predictions on student knowledge, dropout, and motivational state become much more accurate with additional data. By mining large amounts of data we gain a broader understanding of specific groups of students, which leads to better adaptivity and personalization for individuals.