Tag Archives: collaboration

Guiding SJSU toward a Data-Driven Future

A shadow-and-light pattern created by the Student Union's exterior facade

UPDATE (September 2022): The Campus Data Warehouse initiative continues to drive SJSU data adoption with some pilot departments already using our unified data lake platform. One such program combines university data with national data to create learning analytics that to identify students at risk of dropping out or falling behind and not completing their degree. Campus departments can use that data to provide identified students with additional support and resources to improve their academic outcomes and keep them on track for a degree.

In partnership with Institutional Effectiveness and Student Analytics (IESA), SJSU IT is developing a campus-wide data platform hosted on the Google Cloud that is effective, efficient, intuitive, and user-friendly. This new Campus Data Warehouse will be a single source of truth for San Jose State University, creating a foundation for analytics and data-driven decision making. 

For the past few years, SJSU IT has been working toward a more data-driven culture. Using data to inform our decisions allows us to eliminate bias and better evaluate the way things “have always been done.” SJSU IT uses data to inform our decisions and we partner with other departments to help analyze and understand their data. But there’s always been a problem: San Jose State University hasn’t had a unified data strategy. That changes this year.

The new Campus Data Warehouse will transform how departments on campus use data. As a single source of truth, this will be that platform which everything else pulls data. Instead of having three or four databases maintained by different departments for different uses, there will be one database operated through university partnerships. This will open up entirely new opportunities for integration between systems. We’re developing data governance structures with campus partners to set definitions for parameters, decide who has access to what data, and guide the ethics and privacy discussion. 

Aside from addressing the problems around today’s data silos, the Campus Data Warehouse will move SJSU into future technologies. Having a unified platform for the entire university enables us to use AI and Machine Learning to develop predictive analytics models. By removing barriers that make data hard to access and hard to use, we empower departments to improve outcomes for students, faculty, and staff. 

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, reducing bias and increasing equity are primary benefits of a shift toward leveraging data. Using data to inform our decisions circumvents whatever predetermined notions we may have as individuals, whether they were formed by habit, institutional practices, or our upbringing. As the most transformative university in the country, it’s our responsibility to provide the opportunities of higher education to every student equally. We can do that better with data. 

Best regards,
Bob Lim

New SJSU Event Calendar

Dear SJSU Campus Community,

Our campus will be implementing a new university-wide Event Calendar on July 29. 

You have shared with me the need to replace our existing calendar because it’s over a decade old and it’s missing a lot of features that have become standard over the years. It is not mobile friendly, it’s difficult to search, and it doesn’t integrate or work with social media or personal calendars. That’s why SJSU IT collaborated with groups from across the university to identify a solution that meets the needs of our students, faculty, staff, and university community in a major way. 

The first thing you’ll notice is the look. It’s updated with better design, it’s mobile friendly, and it’s much more visual. Each event can now include images, a flyer, or an embedded map. 

But the biggest new feature, by far, is the updated categories and hashtag system for better filtering so you can find the events that matter to you. You can filter by date, event type, topic, audience, trending, and more. You can subscribe to these feeds and get notifications and updates when a new event is posted. So, if you’re a student who lives on campus, you can set up a feed of events that are student-focused and on campus. Or if you’re faculty, you can set up feeds for events in your field or professional development opportunities. 

The new calendar integrates better with existing communication and calendar platforms, too. Events are now exportable to personal calendars like Google Calendar and Outlook, so event details are carried over without any copying and pasting. Hosts can also link events to their social media accounts, giving groups another route to drive engagement. 

If you’re using the calendar while you’re logged in with your SJSU ID, you’ll find a “My Events” profile page, accessible from an icon in the top right of the calendar page. There, you can view your feeds, see which events you’ve registered for, and view past events as well. 

Available on July 29, you can reach the new calendar in the same way as the prior calendar — from the Events Calendar tile in one.SJSU, or at events.sjsu.edu. Additional information and training is available at www.sjsu.edu/eventcalendar.

I also want to take a moment to thank all the folks who have worked with us together to identify and implement this new event calendar:

Campus Unit Individual Campus Unit Individual
Student Affairs Donna Mae Rizando Strategic Communications Monica Bosque
Student Affairs Rob Drury Strategic Communications Felicia McKee-Fegans
Student Affairs Jordan Webb Strategic Communications Michelle Frey
Student Affairs Erlinda Yanez Athletics Ryan O’Rourke
Student Affairs Angela Iraheta Athletics Blake Sasaki
Academic Affairs Gina Marin Hammer Theatre Chris Burrill
Academic Affairs Bethany Winslow Hammer Theatre Maria Bones
Academic Affairs Sally Ordonez Hammer Theatre Anthony Sutton
Academic Affairs Jennifer Redd Hammer Theatre Hannah Hudgins
College of Science Cher Jones MLK Library Lynda Nguyen
College of Humanities and the Arts Fred Cohen MLK Library Sylvia Guel Ruiz
College of Humanities and the Arts Lucy Yamakawa Cox MLK Library Leslie Seacrist
College of Graduate Studies Jennifer Nathan MLK Library Mariah Ramsour
University Personnel Tamela Sullivan Office of Diversity Fernanda Perdoma-Arciniegas
Associated Students Trevor Large Student Union Amy Guerra-Smith

If you have any questions about the Event Calendar, please don’t hesitate to contact the IT Service Desk online or by phone at 408-924-1530.

Regards,
Bob Lim