Big Data in the education sector offers wonderful opportunities to institutes like digital learning, syllabus customization, enhancing the grading system, offering career guidance to students, and proposing new learning strategies.
Since you are reading this blog, you have been to various institutions during your educational journey and these institutions have been gathering your data for different reasons.
But have you ever doubted where does the data linked to students go? What are these institutions doing with this data? Is this data only for storage? Is it of no other use?
Ever thought about all these things? Probably not. Because we never had an idea of how crucial this data is.
No Worries! Here’s a piece of information that has answers to all these questions.
Why Big Data in Education is required?
The utilization of Big Data in the education sector is significant. It provides numerous benefits to both the students and institutions. The application of Big Data in the education system has improved the ability of institutions to monitor things in a much better way.
Here are the reasons why we require Big Data in education
1. Inaccurate education system
Institutes have developed a common learning structure for students with several learning capabilities. Everyone is subject to the syllabus that is aimed for one kind of a group, but not every student has the same capacity to study.
Isn’t it weird?
Like being compelled to learn according to someone else’s way of learning. And this is the reality of the current world.
“Everybody is a genius. But if judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” -Albert Einstein
2. Big Data to renovate the education system
Every student has a different set of qualities and learning skills. The data related to students is vital for encouraging their career in the exact direction. Improvements in data analytics can inspire teachers to do much more than what they can do today. Once teachers have this power, they can shape a student’s career according to their interests and several other constraints.
That’s why Big Data in the education sector is required to solve these problems.
Application of Big Data in Education Sector
- Improved grading system
- Career guidance to students
- Offering new learning plans
These are a few modifications Big Data Analysis can help in implementing in the Education Sector.
a. Improved grading system
As Big Data in education is vital, with it, institutions can track their student’s performance across several domains both at an individual and collective level and improve related solutions to help in the growth of student’s careers. Statistical evaluation of the grades of students in various subjects can help in directing them better and study plans can be employed accordingly. Based on their performance in particular subjects and their area of interest, teachers would be able to direct them on what career path they should go for. They will also be able to point out factors changing an individual student’s performance and come up with effective solutions through analytics.
Big Data Case Study – Enhanced Grading System
The Ashford School has started using Big Data to enhance student’s results and they have witnessed some most important positive outcomes. By employing some modern assessment tools and software applications, such as Classroom Monitor, Nearpod, and even Socrative, which allows teachers to monitor student’s activities and performances. This real-time analysis of a student has helped their teachers to have a better understanding of the behavior of a student and facilitates them to personalize and create optimal learning environments for the students. Thus Big Data has helped their students in improving their overall performances.
b. Career guidance to students
What career should I opt for? What is the future reach of it? The biggest problem that a student faces.
Remembering my high school days, the biggest obstacle I ever faced was of choosing the right career option. My awareness of career options was limited to being an Engineer, or a Doctor, and finally a Chartered Accountant. Being excellent at Maths I didn’t even know the other career options I could choose apart from engineering. But there are a lot more options to choose from. And yet my institute didn’t provide any kind of guidance.
So how would a student know what is the exact career option for him? How these problems that a student faces could be eliminated?
Big Data is here to solve these dilemmas.
But the question is – How?
Through an evaluation of each student’s data and generating a performance report for them. If the report shows that the student is an advanced writer, the report will recommend him to pursue a career in the same related fields. This is what a counselor does. Earlier this was done by counselors through brief interview processes and grade analysis. But now if they have access to Big Data, it will improve this process. The Big Data Analysis will judge that the student is an inventive writer but is also good at science. This would help him in more specific guidance.
Big Data Case Study – Career Guidance to Students
Evaluation of each student’s performance report is not only assisting institutions in improving the students learning process but is also a tool that is allowing them to recommend students the best career options they could opt for. London South Bank University has delivered its counselors with this powerful tool i.e. Big Data Analytics, that will allow them in supporting a student’s career in a much better way. Counselors are observing a student’s performance in various fields both at an individual as well as collective level. This gives them a better idea about a student’s strengths and weaknesses, their area of interest, and the process to be followed in order to build their careers.
c. Proposing new learning plans
A few pupils learn by just reading, but some might grasp things when they write it down, few of them understand things better by watching videos and others might get things by some other approach. But a student is forced to adjust to the defined structure which might be against his category of learning and this is something that obstructs his growth. This also affects a student’s academic performance severely. Why not design different learning plans and then giving students the freedom to choose their chosen learning plan. That is why Big Data is here. Through Big Data Analytics, institutions will be able to build varied learning plans and probably helping them making it more interesting also. This will help them in understanding a student’s strengths and weaknesses and thus providing them with related study materials.
Conclusion
If we want to shape the future we have to shape the education system accordingly. Big Data growth is on the skyline and it is high time to take control of a student’s information. The way students learn and teachers teach will be transformed when big data is deployed largely in the educational space. Big Data is the revolution that was needed to rebuild and transform the education system.