Author: IRDS

Leveraging AI in Higher Education Administrative Processes

January 28, 2026 by IRDS

AI tools are developing at a breakneck pace. Every week seems to bring a new announcement about what LLM-powered systems can do. But the speed of technology is not always the right speed for adoption, especially in a highly regulated environment like higher education, where data governance and ongoing review are essential for safe, responsible […]

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When Are Enrollment Numbers “Final”? Understanding Census, Frozen Data, and Live Counts at Ball State

October 22, 2025 by IRDS

Overview Ball State uses two official snapshots each Fall and Spring term for IRDS reporting: Fall Week-1 Snapshot: one week into the term (preliminary). Final Fall Census: October 15 (official final) → IRDS freezes the data after quality assurance checks. Spring Week-1 Snapshot: one week into the term (preliminary). Final Spring Census: 8 weeks into the […]

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A Better Front Door for Tableau: Built by People, Kickstarted by AI

October 8, 2025 by IRDS

When BSU staff need data, “Where is that dashboard?” is ideally not the first and then most persistent question. To surface data and analytics more easily and efficiently we’ve launched Ball State’s new Tableau Landing Page to make the fastest path to insight also the most obvious one. Threading a Needle This project is the […]

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Improving Data Literacy at Ball State: Our Approach

August 1, 2025 by IRDS

Being asked to improve data literacy at a Professions-focused Undergraduate/Graduate-Doctorate Large institution can feel daunting. Where do you start, how do you scale, and how do you measure progress in a way that actually changes decisions on the ground? This post outlines what we did at Ball State University, why we chose this path, and […]

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Generative AI, Looking Through the Hype

May 29, 2025 by IRDS

AVP’s Corner Back in the 1990s there were many breathless news articles posted about how the internet and online colleges were the death knell for the traditional model of Higher Education. I printed out a few of the most alarmist articles and had them hanging on my corkboard for many years as a reminder that […]

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Data Literacy at Ball State University

January 10, 2025 by IRDS

In the world of Institutional Research, there are many cases where technical skills must be merged with linguistic, organizational, and social skills. Data literacy is one such area that calls for expertise across all four of these dimensions. At Ball State University (BSU), we are committed to growing our collective capacity to make data-informed decisions […]

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Understanding the Relationship Between DFW Grades and First-Year Retention

November 19, 2024 by IRDS

Retention and DFW grades (Ds, Fs or withdrawals) are common topics when it comes to student success, but not all DFW grades have the same impact on whether a student will stay enrolled. In our recent analysis of first-year students at Ball State, we found that the type of DFW grade—whether a D, F, or […]

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Data Liaisons Group: Data Wins

October 14, 2024 by IRDS

During our monthly Data Liaisons Group meeting on September 9, 2024, we invited each member to share recent data wins from their areas. This was an excellent discussion and we had the opportunity to hear from several colleagues about how they use data to support students, streamline operations, and provide necessary context about the institution […]

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Data Governance at Ball State

February 23, 2024 by IRDS

Universities rely on information, but it’s not enough to just have vast amounts of data. We need a strategy for using data wisely, and that’s where data governance comes in. We’re deliberate about finding effective ways to manage our data at Ball State, and in this post we share an inside look at some of […]

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Useful Links to Data and IRDS Services

October 31, 2023 by IRDS

As we expand our offerings to the Ball State community it can be challenging to find them all. In this post we will, on a regular basis, update those links. Please feel free to bookmark this page and refer back to it as needed. IRDS uses Tableau and we have other official lines of communication. […]

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