Melinda Roy

Melinda has over a decade of professional experience in data analysis and research across higher education, public service, libraries, and healthcare sectors. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Non-Fiction from University of King's College.

7 Practices Research & Data Analysts Can Learn from DIY-ers

Research and data analysts in higher education, like many public sectors, find themselves doing a lot with a little. Just like tinkerers and DIY-ers you call up about a problem with your sink, analysts are problem-solvers in the student information and processing neighborhoods of their institutions.

6 Steps to Developing a Metric to Understand Course Compaction

Just as strategic enrolment management looks at metrics at the institutional, department, program, and course level, so too should course compaction and curriculum offerings be understood at different levels of aggregation.

Four Ways Course Compaction Benefits Instructors

While instructor FTEs and student contact hours may go up due to course compaction, strategic thinkers understand that class size, classroom amenities, and instructor workloads impact student learning experiences and success.

6 Indicators of Healthy Course Compaction

In the continuation of the series on course compaction for strategic enrolment management, this post discusses what student and course metrics might indicate healthy course compaction.

Course Compaction: Indicators of Negative Compaction

Course compaction can improve student program progression rates by streamlining course offerings, but as with any enrolment management initiative, there must be metrics developed to evaluate its effectiveness.

What Impact Does Course Compaction Have on Student Success?

We’ve been revisiting what we mean by course compaction, how to measure it, and evaluate whether courses are too compacted or not enough, and what student-success-sponsoring course compaction looks like.

Making Reports Memorable: New Research on Statistics and Stories

Data storytellers shouldn’t shy away from repeating themselves. It’s how people learn and remember important concepts, theories, and facts. Story is at the root of how cultural and organizational change happens.

Redefining Accessibility in Higher Education: Embracing the Social Model of Disability

For post-secondary institutions, many retention initiatives focus on identifying students at-risk for attrition but retention planning for students with disabilities must include a culture that supports accessible design from tools and pedagogy, to service and systems design.

Building a Data Governance Team from Within: Matching Data Governance Roles to Existing Employees

Data governance is already happening at your institution, whether or not you have an explicit framework. As Bob Seiner, non-invasive data governance expert puts it, your “Data stewards are already in the building,” you just need to know where.

Data Literacy & Governance for Leaders, Strategic Planners, Operations and Financial Managers

In higher education, leadership and management steer their institutions toward success. However, there are data literacy skills that can get overlooked by those in leadership, strategic planning, operations, and finance roles.