The discussion is focused on the difference of data driven vs. data informed decisions (Chapter 7, 8, and online resources below)
The difference between data driven and data informed decisions were discussed. The data driven decision are entirely evidence-based. The importance that is set to the data will also encourage information to be up to date and well examined. However, the negative aspect of it is that data is trusted blindly and little focus is given to qualitative data. Trusting data blindly may lead to negative effects when data is low quality or inaccurate.
On the other hand, making data informed decisions means that data is used as an important factor in decision but not the only factor. It means that qualitative and subjective information is used. A data informed educational institution would take other factors like subjective student experience into consideration in addition to data when making decisions. The advantages of this approach is that it takes into account the limitations of available data, uses multiple sources to make decisions, rather than just relying on data, and encourages creative and “out-of-the-box” decision making process, potentially leading to better results.
We will continue this discussion in Spring 2020.
Resources on data driven v. data informed decisions
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