Category: Institutional Research and Decision Support

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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Data Liaisons Group: Data Insights

January 16, 2026 by Faidat Bello

During our monthly Data Liaisons Group meeting on September 9, 2024, we invited each member to share recent data wins from their areas; the result of that discussion is posted here. In our November 10, 2025 meeting we asked the question again: how are your areas using data to support students, streamline operations, and provide context about the institution to leadership? The highlights below […]

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More Than Transfer Credits: Predictors of Time- to- Degree at Ball State

December 16, 2025 by Faidat Bello

Reducing the time it takes to earn a degree is a priority for students and universities alike, impacting retention, cost, and student success. Many Ball State students arrive with transfer credit, whether from high school dual-enrollment or another college, hoping those credits will reduce their time of graduation. Does transferring more credits ultimately help students […]

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STEP BY STEP ADMISSIONS DASHBOARD WALKTHROUGH: How to Explore Trends, Track Performance, and Tell Better Data Stories

December 8, 2025 by Faidat Bello

The Admissions Dashboard is a powerful tool for exploring how students move from application to enrollment. It brings together applicant trends, academic preparedness, demographics, geography, and term-to-term comparisons into one interactive experience. This walkthrough is designed to help you navigate the dashboard with confidence. Each slide highlights a different section, explains what you are seeing, […]

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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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IRDS Research Reports and Briefs

August 25, 2025 by Faidat Bello

The Institutional Research Office at BSU produces research reports on topics of interest to the BSU community and other stakeholders. Most of our research reports are driven by collaboration with BSU staff who have attended the Data Literacy Institute, offered by the Association for Institutional Research in partnership with IRDS (details available here). On this […]

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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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Supporting Sophomore Success: A Closer Look at Retention Beyond the First Year

July 22, 2025 by Faidat Bello

Although often overshadowed by first-year retention, sophomore retention is a meaningful indicator of student progress. This blog post presents an analysis of second-to-third-year enrollment patterns at Ball State, highlighting factors that support continued enrollment. The analysis includes 7,649 Fall 2020–2022 first-time students who returned for a second year. The project builds on a project initiated by […]

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Recap: Year 3, IRDS and Ball State

June 30, 2025 by Faidat Bello

In our yearly recaps posted Recap: Year 1 and Recap: Year 2, we discussed several of the technological successes of IRDS and BSU. In this year three recap, we add in the relationships we have been building around campus. But first, we did implement two new important data product categories in year three. Workforce Insights In […]

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