What Have We Done for You Lately?

The end of this summer marks two years of blogging about the dashboard/VA project and we thought it would be interesting to quantify the metrics, response to communications efforts, and user data and present it to you in a new visual format.

We learned that our dashboard/VA users live in thirty two countries around the globe and that the release of data on graduation rates caused the highest response rate from users. In the metrics section of this graphic, you will see a list of the 2013 summer months that highlights what new data you can expect, when it will be available online, and the fact that we are working to expand the “views” of data.

We look forward to sharing more infographics soon of specific data sets from the UT System dashboard and iPad accessible Visual Analytics interactive reports. If you have not had a chance to visit the wealth of information available at your fingertips, join our users on all seven continents by clicking here now.

New Video on Navigating Data

Hopefully you’ve had a chance to install the SAS Mobile BI App on your iPad and connect to the UT System library. If not, click here to visit the UT System YouTube channel for video instructions.

The newest video is now available so you can enjoy a quick overview of how to navigate and understand VA reports at:

Did you know that the average debt per student borrower graduating with a bachelor’s degree is less than the average cost of a new car purchased in the U.S.? Visit the latest data on “student debt” to learn more.

The technology transfer report has rich information on commercialization advancements including UT Austin’s 40 U.S. patents issued in FY 2011 and UT El Paso’s 19 startup companies formed over the last 4 years.

Stay tuned to this blog for the latest financial aid data and a HUGE announcement regarding education outcomes based on career compensation!

SAS Recognizes UT System’s Dashboard

SAS named UT System as the winner of its Excellence in Education award at the SAS Global Forum 2013. This award spotlights use of SAS to improve operations, empower leaders, prepare students for today’s workforce, spark innovation and expand educational opportunities.

UT System’s Productivity Dashboard, is built on the foundation of The UT System Framework for Excellence. It helps assess institutional progress and is central to the system’s efforts to become a national model for transparency and accountability.

Read more about this honor in the official announcement and at All Analytics.

UT System’s Huie Chairing National Committee

The National Association of System Heads (NASH) has received a two-year grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to increase student success, reduce administrative costs and improving system and campus capacity. Stephanie Huie, Ph.D., interim vice chancellor for UT System strategic initiatives, has been appointed to chair the national advisory committee that will oversee the project.

Huie, our fearless leader, also oversees the UT System Productivity Dashboard which has been chronicled on this blog since August 2011.

The Dashboard gives parents, students, and stakeholders easy access to graduation rates, degree costs and other important information to assess the effectiveness and productivity of UT System’s 15 institutions.

To read more about the NASH project and hear from Huie, visit the official UT System press release.

New Face Behind the Blog

As you know, The University of Texas System’s Office of Strategic Initiatives (OSI) has been working to bring interactive, multi-level data to the public’s fingertips. We have completed the initial phases of the UT System’s Productivity Dashboard, an online information portal that expands and makes more accessible data on our institutions. The purpose of this blog is to share these developments—and sneak peeks at the data—with you.

I am pleased to be the newest member of the OSI team. My name is Barbara Haller, and I’m returning to The University of Texas System after five years away.

Part of my role is to support this blog and push out more frequent updates about what we are working on and provide some snapshots of the data that is or soon will be available. I look forward to sharing these exciting developments with you.

If you haven’t been connecting with us online, start today by

>following us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/UTFactsOnline/

>subscribing to our feed at http://utfactsonline.wordpress.com/feed/ and

>telling others about the first reports we pushed out with our new Visual Analytics tool. Those reports have been accessible online at exploredata.utsystem.edu. Now that the Mobile BI app for the iPad has been released (see the instructional video for downloading the app and connecting to the UT System library here), you can bring the data to your fingertips more easily. These VA reports have some really great functionality, particularly for filtering to select exactly what you want to see. This tool supplements the data available at data.utsystem.edu, which provides dashboard views of the System and institutions as well as detailed reports.

New Tool Brings Data to You

Last month we pushed out the first reports using SAS® Visual Analytics. Those reports have been accessible online at exploredata.utsystem.edu. Now, SAS has released the Mobile BI app for the iPad, so you can bring the data to your fingertips. These VA reports have some really great functionality, particularly for allowing the user to easily filter and select what they want to see.

We currently have nine reports available, with three additional reports soon to be released. Some reports offer different and/or expanded looks at data we have already presented on the Dashboard, while others are completely new. These new reports include: student debt; revenue trends; tuition and fees; and data on applied, admitted, enrolled (Top 10 Percent). The reports we are currently working on for release include data on financial aid, measuring student outcomes (Collegiate Learning Assessment), and STEM and health degrees.

Check out this video for helpful instructions on how to access this exciting new tool. We’ll be posting new videos to this playlist soon on how to navigate the reports and use the functionality.

Our New Fearless Leader

As of January 1, Dr. Sandra Woodley, the vice chancellor who led this band of merry (wo)men, deserted us…

Okay, fine, she was asked to serve as president of the University of Louisiana System. She will be missed. But we continue forward–always and always forward–under Dr. Stephanie Huie, who has been appointed vice chancellor ad interim. The work doesn’t stop. We all know what to do.