For surveying the “state of the union” in higher ed, I’ll be able to offer a draft survey in a couple of days and we can work together to improve it.

I don’t want to reveal too much for now (got scooped once with a great idea, don’t want to risk it again!)… but I’m working on something that is blatantly lacking in our industry and once the background is established, I will be honored if you can help out.

Stéphane

On the analytics vs HigherEd, realized that there are a couple of aspects mixed in here and so wanted to clarify. First, there is the what I call ‘core knowledge’. This is what I was referring to in my earlier post. Academics have excellent knowledge of analytics, analytical technique, and you will even find great examples of applications to various problems from Market Research to Economic Forecasts to predicting Consumer Behavior.

The second is what I am going to label as ROK (Return on Knowledge) vis-a-vis that institution — in other words how well an institution of higher learning applies the core knowledge to improve their KPIs. In this I would tend to agree more with Shelby and Stephane that academia is lagging behind – especially in the application of web analytics, and that they can do a lot more to leverage analytics to boost enrollment or increase grants etc. However, even here (based on my experience) I see a big variation across various institutions depending on whether they are a focused Teaching school (no Ph.d programs or even Masters in many cases) or Research school, size and diversity, city (or State), proximity and collaborations with surrounding practioners and/or companies etc. I know of schools that use analytics and web analytics — but then I would not be totally surprised if there are schools with barely a website.

As to where we go from here – well, I will leave you with my Tweet to Stephane:
It is time WA #measure is stripped of the cocoon of factions and emerge as an independent yet collaborative field.

Regards,
Ned

I completely agree that we need to be accepting of other techniques. I think that’s why I found Joseph’s post so fascinating.

@Joseph – Sorry about your trouble posting. If it was on my end, please let me know what happened and I will troubleshoot.

It’s sad to hear that vendors would not participate. Hopefully because of the response you’ve received some will change their minds. Then again, they probably won’t.

About post #3 – I like Christopher Berry’s comment in post #2 – where do we go from here? We can talk about it until we’re blue in the face – not that the conversation isn’t important and interesting – but what do we do about it? You state that, “Time to mature is culture dependent so the online community as a whole must do the work.” Agreed. So is that what we’re doing right now? How do we “do the work?”

Web analytics is a young field – but analytics is not. I grew up navigating through a wide array of disciplines in academia and over the years I have seen some brilliant analysts in fields such as Marketing, Economics, Decision Support and the like. In fact, many of them have used advanced analytical techniques for years that only now the Web Analytics community is even hearing about (One of the reasons I am surprised when folks go ga-ga over Predictive analytics – the stuff has been in use for decades). Now having said that, I would agree that what is lagging behind is the application of analytics in the web arena. For years web analytics was like a mantra known only to a few chosen ones and as such it never took off in the academia or with the masses (that is changing though). Secondly, for years we (the WA community in general) have put ourselves on a pedestal and looked down on other domains. If we really want to progress, we should admit our lackings and learn from the various other domains — including ‘non-analytical’ domains such as cognitive science and in the process show how our side of the world (web analytics) can help them with their work. Third, I do agree with you that there needs to be a structure in place in terms of standards, processes etc. We argue about ‘Art vs Science’ in web analytics – it does not really matter. You will not find a single field of study that is successful that does not have a ‘guiding principle’ and certain stakes on the ground in terms of what-it-is and what-it-is-not etc.

Enjoyed the reading.
Regards,
Ned

The level of analytics use/expertise/etc, in my opinion, really depends on the industry. There are a lot of companies in the US that are using it extensively. There are also a lot of companies that aren’t at all.

At universities, however, we are at the infant stage as well. I’m thinking of higher education only because that is the industry I am in. I’m sure, even here in the US, there are other companies in your boat, though.

Keep up the good fight.

Knowledge, importance of data driven action, inspiration and drive are all attributes which are scarce in the U.K when it comes to web analytics. All the great speakers, evangelists, educators..heck even the events and associations are all U.S based.

For me, as someone inspired by and using web analytics to improve online marketing is pretty disappointing to read that you guys are already thinking about higher education and the sort. I would be happy if web analytics got the recognition it needs within businesses for a start.

@Joseph - What I loved most about your posts is that rarely did any *tool* come into the conversation. Can a certain tool do this or that. We’re missing the point if that is our biggest complaint.

It’s my opinion that the biggest thing that higher education lacks right now in web analytics is training (for various reasons). Regardless of limitations, there are so many things we could be doing right now and don’t – either because the HIPPOs don’t think it’s necessary or because we don’t know how to do it (or both).

You’re right, it will definitely be an interesting couple of years in the analytics industry and I’m curious to see where higher education will go regarding it. I didn’t even bring up the whole issue of privacy, which is huge in higher ed.

By the way, I agree with everyone else, you should definitely do a 3rd post. It’s such a fantastic conversation and one that is desperately needed. I wish some vendor representatives would chime in.

@Stéphane - Your WAMM paper was great and I have to admit that across the key areas, higher education would be at a 0 or 1 level. Governance, for example, is a nightmare. I would guess that most websites are decentralized (especially at larger institutions) and the “champions” will come from different levels for all units. For large institutions we’re talking 100s of websites (with different owners, processes, etc.). Obviously this is a generalization, but I’d argue that more often than not, it’s true.

I would love your input on the survey and will definitely be in touch about it. I’m in total agreement with you that it needs to be more practices oriented and less tool-oriented. In higher education, staff are so hungry for training that those are the bulk of the questions that are asked (how do you do X with a certain tool). They are all great questions, but I’m of the opinion that we all need to understand *why* we need to do X with a certain tool and how it fits in and/or has implications for things elsewhere. We need to get away from the task-taking and move more toward a holistic strategy. Training is so lacking that that is the squeaky wheel now.

@Christopher – I completely agree with you as far as the research aspect is concerned. What we lack as a whole around web analytics is a champion. We just don’t have that right now. When I say “we” I mean the collective we – higher education.