With data becoming integral to how organisations make decisions, institutions must consider how they equip students with the data literacy and other analytical skills needed for future jobs.
Naveen Menon, Cisco’s ASEAN President, has modeled the impact of technology on the labor market in Southeast Asia. He found that of 275 million workers, 28 million fewer will be required by 2028 to produce the same economic output as today.
“Increased adoption of technology, coupled with continued advancements, will dramatically alter the nature of work itself,” Menon said. “For example, we will all be interacting a lot more with machines and will have to routinely analyse data and take actions based on that. This will drive a greater need for skills like critical thinking and problem solving, which will be key differentiators for success in the future.”
Professor Downie said Curtin University is on the journey to using data to offer a more personalised student experience.
“We have partnered with Echo360 to capture our lecture content, and everything is recorded. Around 25 percent of our recordings can be viewed live, and this is constantly increasing. The data is really driving deeper connections between the student and lecturer, even in the online environment.”
The system facilitated 1.6 million streams and downloads of lecture content in 2018.
Professor Downie said the university is also using pattern recognition technology to monitor the use of classrooms and campuses. It has 24/7 monitoring of learning space usage, and the data is integrated with the timetabling system.
“The data helps us to better inform not only what we do with our students, but also our infrastructure.”
The volume of data being generated is immense—particularly in research, said University of Queensland Chief Operating Officer David Stockdale. “As a research university that has a very strong biomedical focus, we have a lot of equipment that collects a lot of data. It’s not unusual to have devices that are collecting 7 terabytes of data per day,” he said.
To keep up, the university is working with Cisco to replace its network. The first phase was to install 100 gigabits per second network infrastructure for key research facilities. As a result, each 7 terabyte data transfer has been reduced from hours to just 15 minutes—a huge time-saving for researchers, allowing them to spend more time on their work.
Other examples of institutions leveraging the use of data include: