Data Insider

Category: Institutional Research and Decision Support

  • Improving Data Literacy at Ball State: Our Approach
    August 1, 2025 by

    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

    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

    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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  • Data Insights: Explore Our Dashboards
    June 16, 2025 by

    At Ball State University, data isn’t just a tool, it’s an integral part of making informed decisions and supporting student success. Our team has been hard at work perfecting the tools that enable us to know and support students through their BSU lifecycle. Today, we are excited to introduce three Tableau dashboard walkthroughs: Admissions, Housing, and High-Impact Practices (HIPs). These visualizations enable […]

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  • Generative AI, Looking Through the Hype
    May 29, 2025 by

    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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  • Featured Interview: A Conversation with Cole Heady About Ball State University’s Data Cookbook
    April 2, 2025 by

    Accessible, accurate, and reliable data are at the heart of data-informed decision-making. At Ball State University, Data Cookbook plays a crucial role in this process, serving as a central hub for data governance and ensuring consistency across institutional analysis and analytics efforts. It allows departments to work from a unified business glossary, improving decision-support and […]

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  • Featured Interview: A Conversation with Drew Miller about Ball State University’s Data Warehouse
    March 3, 2025 by

    Accessible, accurate and reliable data is at the heart of data-informed decision-making. At Ball State University, the Data Warehouse serves as the backbone for this, and facilitates one of our goals– supporting student success. We sat with Drew Miller, the Director of Institutional Research, and unpacked what the Data Warehouse does, how it functions, and why […]

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  • Data Literacy at Ball State University
    January 10, 2025 by

    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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  • Introducing the IRDS E-Magazine
    January 9, 2025 by

    Welcome to the first edition of Ball State University Office of Institutional Research and Decision Support (IRDS) E-Magazine! This publication serves as a platform to showcase how we are fulfilling our mission for Ball State. The IRDS E-Magazine provides readers a glimpse into the work that supports planning, decision-making and student success across the university. […]

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