Understanding the Student Experience
Data Management Project Provides Roadmap for Success
Data is a powerful catalyst for growth and innovation. And behind the scenes it’s shaping some of the most meaningful decisions in continuing education. It drives a greater understanding about learners and their needs, how they succeed and how programs can evolve to better support their goals.
The Centre for Continuing Education is working on a project to take its data-driven decision-making to a new level.
By using data to enrich the student journey, CCE is turning insight into impact—strengthening programs today while preparing learners for meaningful futures tomorrow.
Chris Ugbomah, Business Systems Manager and Analyst, Central Business Services, CCE, is one of the team members working to build a centralized data warehouse and a suite of dashboards that will bring together insights from across CCE. The goal? To transform scattered information into fuel that allows CCE to better understand and support student experiences.
More Than Technology
“We began this initiative earlier this year and what excites us most is not just the technology itself, but what it enables us to do. It allows us to be more responsive to student needs, identify opportunities for improvement and empower staff with the information they need to make sound decisions on things like program development.”
Ana Aviles, Financial Analyst, Central Business Services, CCE, and another member of the data project team explains, “Each student’s path is unique, and understanding their realities—how they try to balance studies, work, family and personal goals— allows us to see the whole picture. Data helps us to reveal patterns that could make a difference in how we support our students in the future.”
More Than a Process
The process involves collecting raw data from a variety of sources going back to 2022. “We started by integrating many resources into a single source of truth,” says Ugbomah. “Within that data we try to find as many characteristics as possible to form a complete picture of our students. Along the way we’re standardizing how data is collected so that it becomes more consistent and complete.”
While this is still a work in progress, CCE is already beginning to see how data can become a valuable tool for capacity building.
“We can see patterns emerging that will allow CCE to make more informed decisions such as identifying the need for new programs or reasons to adjust existing ones,” notes Aviles. “There is so much opportunity because it’s not just about providing data such as total enrolment numbers. It’s about developing a holistic view of students’ goals, challenges and progress.”
Currently the team is setting the foundation and defining processes and improvements. “We began with 50 metrics and have completed 25 so far,” says Ugbomah, "Once we’ve built the foundation, then we start adding bricks on top and that’s where the fun begins. We challenge ourselves with the questions, see what the trends say and explore new avenues that allow us to answer those questions."
Those questions are many. “How well do we know our students, their aspirations and what their journey at CCE has been like,” queries Aviles. “When we ask those questions, we either can’t find or don’t have the data to answer them. Without this type of information, we are only able to react to situations after the fact. With it, we can be proactive and that will make a world of difference in terms of how successful we can be in supporting not only our students but CCE and the wider community.”
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While the project is an ambitious one, CCE believes it is well worth the effort. “At CCE everything is about people, but we also have that entrepreneurial spirit and a focus on continuous improvement,” says Ugbomah. “This is helping to create a culture that is driven by data and will pay dividends for years to come.”