website: metadata: name: "Beyond vanity data: Identifying the right metrics to increase student engagement | Genio" core_info: url: "https://genio.co/blog/beyond-vanity-data-identifying-metrics-increase-student-engagement" published_time: "2026-03-13T09:45:03.000Z" author: "Jacob Goodwin" reading_time: "3 min read" header: primary_elements: - type: logo link: "https://genio.co/" alt: "Genio logo - home" - type: search placeholder: "Enter search term" navigation: - name: "Products" items: - name: "Genio Notes" link: "https://genio.co/notes" description: "The #1 note taking solution to boost knowledge, skills and confidence" icon: "https://genio.co/hubfs/website/vectors/menu-icons/the_glean_study_tool_Icon.svg" - name: "The Confident Notetaker's Masterclass" link: "https://genio.co/the-confident-notetakers-masterclass" description: "An on-demand online note taking course that helps you prepare for your studies" icon: "https://genio.co/hubfs/website/vectors/menu-icons/megamenu%20icon_studying%20mh%20challenge.svg" - 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We were joined by Sarah Jurden and Heather Chapman to discuss how they've moved beyond vanity metrics to gain actionable data insights." elements: - type: "hero_image" src: "https://genio.co/hubfs/BLOG_improve%20sutdy%20skills%20HERO.png" alt: "Desk lamp, open book with pen and notices pin board" - type: "summary" content: - "Higher education is moving from reactive support to proactive intervention by prioritizing leading indicators (early alert data) over lagging metrics (retention rates) to enable immediate action." - "Institutions must adapt to the New Majority learner and move beyond vanity metrics to focus on data points that drive behavioral change and persistence." - "Effectively utilizing data requires breaking down departmental silos to create cross-functional alignment, allowing for unified, real-time outreach and high-touch human intervention." - section: title: "Why leading indicators are so important" description: "Discussion on necessity of prioritizing leading indicators over lagging data." elements: - type: "sub_section" title: "Early intervention flags" content: "Tracking early alert flags, first-week attendance, and whether a student has attended their initial advising appointments." - type: "sub_section" title: "The digital footprint" content: "Monitoring logins to the Learning Management System (LMS) as a real-time pulse on student engagement." - type: "sub_section" title: "Day by day enrollment" content: "Reviewing daily enrollment changes compared to the previous year to immediately assess the effectiveness of outreach efforts." - section: title: "How to move beyond vanity data to increase student engagement" description: "Strategies to focus on metrics that move the needle." elements: - type: "sub_section" title: "Event conversion vs. event attendance" content: "Simply counting heads at an event is a vanity exercise. A more meaningful metric is conversion, namely how many of those attendees subsequently joined a student organization or took a follow-up action that deepened their sense of belonging." - type: "sub_section" title: "Action oriented compliance" content: "Rather than reporting on how many students have registered in total, data collection should focus on identifying the specific individuals who haven't completed a required action (such as registering by a certain date). This allows staff to ignore compliant students and focus their limited human capital on those who need intervention." - section: title: "How to support the New Majority learner" description: "Initiatives to drive success across non-traditional student cohorts." elements: - type: "sub_section" title: "The Wildcat Scholars program" content: "Predictive modeling revealed that students placed in both developmental Math and English were at the highest risk. Weber State responded with a guided program offering a structured first-year experience and on-campus jobs, which dramatically increased student belonging." - type: "sub_section" title: "The engagement tracker" content: "To operationalize the link between engagement and retention, BGSU categorizes students into tiers. The goal isn't just to track participation, but to actively move students into higher tiers of institutional engagement." - section: title: "How to break departmental data silos" description: "Approach for cross-campus alignment through 'The Weekly Scrum'." elements: - type: "text" content: "This 30-minute weekly meeting brings together registrars, financial aid officers, and marketing teams to review enrollment numbers and coordinate immediate, unified outreach." - section: title: "Call to action" elements: - type: "link" text: "Rewatch the webinar" link: "https://genio.co/webinars/metrics-that-matter-for-student-success" - type: "cta_image" src: "https://genio.co/hubfs/cta_image.svg" alt: "Time for a simpler, smarter note taking accommodation?" description: "Genio Notes is the online note taking tool that makes compliance simple, reduces cost and admin burden, and improves student outcomes." actions: - name: "Learn More" link: "https://hubspot-cta-redirect-eu1-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/redirect/24880982/edb6c600-e949-4a2c-983d-c7e2ecf6eec5" image: "https://hubspot-no-cache-eu1-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/cta/default/24880982/edb6c600-e949-4a2c-983d-c7e2ecf6eec5.png" - 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type: "social_share" platform: "Email" link: "mailto:?subject=Beyond+vanity+data%3A+Identifying+the+right+metrics+to+increase+student+engagement&body=https%3A%2F%2Fgenio.co%2Fblog%2Fbeyond-vanity-data-identifying-metrics-increase-student-engagement%3Futm_campaign%3Dshare-links%26utm_source%3Demail%26utm_medium%3Dsocial" icon: "https://genio.co/hubfs/raw_assets/public/genio-2025/images/email.svg" - type: "social_share" platform: "Copy link" link: "https://genio.co/blog/beyond-vanity-data-identifying-metrics-increase-student-engagement" icon: "https://genio.co/hubfs/raw_assets/public/genio-2025/images/copy_link.svg" - section: title: "More from Supporting Students" link: "https://genio.co/blog/tag/supporting-students" elements: - type: "blog_card" title: "How Genio supports students with additional needs in higher education" description: "Read how Genio Notes supports students with additional needs in higher education, helping learners with a disability or mental health challenge, both those receiving accommodations and those navigating their studies without formal support, to build confidence, reduce stress, and improve academic success." link: "https://genio.co/blog/how-genio-supports-students-with-additional-needs" image: "https://genio.co/hs-fs/hubfs/BLOG_overwhelmed%20as%20a%20student%20THUMB.png?width=450&name=BLOG_overwhelmed%20as%20a%20student%20THUMB.png" reading_time: "4 min read" - type: "blog_card" title: "The essential habits of highly successful college students with Dr John Bader" description: "Learning Outcomes Leaders Podcast | Ep 006" link: "https://genio.co/blog/the-essential-habits-of-highly-successful-college-students-with-dr-john-bader" image: "https://genio.co/hs-fs/hubfs/Learning%20Outcomes%20Leaders%20Podcast%20Ep%20006%20with%20Dr%20John%20Bader%20hero.png?width=450&name=Learning%20Outcomes%20Leaders%20Podcast%20Ep%20006%20with%20Dr%20John%20Bader%20hero.png" reading_time: null - type: "blog_card" title: "How Genio supports the New Majority Learner in higher education" description: "Read how Genio Notes supports the New Majority Learners in higher education, helping student parents, working, first-year, first-generation, ESL, and mature students build confidence, reduce stress, and improve academic success." link: "https://genio.co/blog/how-genio-supports-the-new-majority-learner-in-higher-education" image: "https://genio.co/hs-fs/hubfs/BLOG_how%20to%20study%20better%20THUMB.png?width=450&name=BLOG_how%20to%20study%20better%20THUMB.png" reading_time: "5 min read" footer: links: - 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