A practical approach to statistics for your enrollment management team.
This workshop will provide a practical statistics primer for those who are either new to enrollment management or who do not have strong data/mathematical backgrounds. We will explore basic and intermediate statistics concepts in an approachable and engaging way and will explain how these applications become relevant and applied in your day-to-day work. Using a case study as a foundation for this workshop, we will focus on how to ask the right research questions, gather and analyze the right data, and effectively communicate the findings to key stakeholders.
A Learn and Work Event
This conference has been specifically designed to help you gain hands-on experience with beginner and intermediate statistics in enrollment management. Each session will end with an activity or block of working time to help you apply what you have learned. Attendees are asked to bring a laptop to the conference for these working sessions.
Who Should Attend
Those who are new to enrollment management or who don’t have a strong data/mathematical background will be better able to leverage and apply data after participating in this conference. When you register two attendees from your institution, a third can attend for 50% off!
Agenda
Continental Breakfast (included in registration fee)
8:00 - 8:30 a.m.
Welcome and Introductions
8:30 - 8:45 a.m.
Key Considerations when Defining Your Research Question
8:45 - 10:00 a.m.
Enrollment management professionals often look too deeply into the data before formulating a research question to help define where they are going. In this opening session of the conference, we will look at the following key considerations for properly defining your research question:
- What are we trying to solve or achieve through this research?
- What’s the scope of your question?
- What groups are you looking at?
- What has occurred in the past?
- What could happen that would change the trend?
At the end of this session, we will introduce the case study to be used throughout the conference and will give you time to work in small groups to formulate a related research question.
Morning Break
10:00 - 10:15 a.m.
Gathering the Right Data
10:15 - 11:15 a.m.
Institutions are rich with data, but understanding what you need can be challenging. This session will focus on collecting the data that is most relevant to your research question and will offer strategies for thinking critically about your data. We will also explore the importance of clearly communicating your needs to the departments providing the data.
Working Time
11:15 - 11:45 a.m.
During this block of working time, attendees will engage in an activity that will help apply what has been learned and will begin to identify the data needed to help answer the research question developed for the conference case study.
Lunch (included in registration fee)
11:45 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Statistics Fundamentals
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
This session is a refresher or introduction to the basic statistics concepts, in addition to the more intermediate concepts, cause vs. correlation and pivot charts. This session will pay special attention to application and how this relates to your daily work in enrollment management. You will have the opportunity, in activities and working time, to apply these fundamental statistical concepts to daily work in enrollment management.
Afternoon Break
3:00 - 3:15 p.m.
Intermediate Statistics
3:15 - 5:00 p.m.
With an understanding of fundamental statistics, we will move into more intermediate statistical concepts. Concepts to be covered include:
- Prediction vs. inference
- Regression vs. classification
- Uncertainty analysis
- Predictive modeling
You will have the opportunity during activities and working time to apply these intermediate statistical concepts to your daily work in enrollment management.
Networking Reception (included in registration fee)
5:00. - 6:00 p.m.
Continental Breakfast (included in registration fee)
8:15 - 8:45 a.m.
Working Time: Analyzing the Data
8:45 - 10:30 a.m.
To help build on what you have already learned, this block of working time provides an opportunity to continue working through the case study and use actual data to do some statistical analyses. Attendees will work in small groups and will need laptops for this session.
Morning Break
10:30 - 10:45 a.m.
Communicating Results and Action Steps to Key Stakeholders
10:45 - 11:45 a.m.
Our last session will focus on the importance of being able to effectively communicate results and action steps to key stakeholders. This piece is an important part of the process and can drive the administration and institution to make better informed strategic decisions.
Final Comments and Wrap-Up
11:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Speakers
Pam Horne
Pam Horne served higher education full-time for 43 years, retiring in 2017 as Vice Provost for Enrollment Management at Purdue University where she managed strategy and operations for admissions, financial aid, early college outreach, the registrar’s office, and enrollment analysis and reporting. During her tenure at Purdue, applications for admission doubled, as did institutional financial aid. The academic profile of incoming students increased every year and record retention and graduation rates were achieved. Previously she served Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, Eastern Michigan University and the University of Kansas. She now consults and speaks to professional organizations.
She has presented frequently on a range of topics, from the future of enrollment management, to the effective use of business intelligence and technology in enrollment management, and the impact of changing demographics on higher education.
Ashley Kern
Data Science Consultant
Goldstrike Data, LLC
Ashley Kern is the founder and lead data scientist at Goldstrike Data L.L.C., a data science consulting company focusing on improving university processes through their existing data and resources. Ashley earned her M.S. in Data Science and B.S. in Mathematics from Michigan Technological University and has consulted as a statistician in various industries ranging from higher education to environmental engineering and mining. Her current focus is on developing and applying predictive modeling methods in innovative areas within both private and public sectors to improve on the accuracy of current processes and increase monetary efficiency.
Cindy Sanders
Assistant Vice Provost, Enrollment Management; University Registrar, and Director, Student Information Systems
University of Kansas
Cindy earned her PhD in Higher Education Administration with a minor in Research and Assessment from the University of Kansas. She has over 20 years of experience in applying statistics to areas within enrollment management to guide policy development and process improvement. Her current focus is on utilizing data and projection models to enable strategic human resource and fiscal deployment across the enrollment management division.
Questions About the Event?
Tunde Brimah
Director of Program Development, Academic Impressions