Data as a Connective Tool: Lessons from the SUNY Online Summit

The 2026 SUNY Online Summit took place in late February, and a theme that emerged was how data is most powerful when it connects people to insight and action.

Rather than treating data as mechanical reporting or a compliance requirement, presenters consistently showed how data can function as an informative signal that helps us better understand learners, support faculty and staff, and strengthen programs. When used well, data sets the stage for better questions and informed decisions.

Data to Ask Better Questions

Effective online teaching relies on data not only to assess outcomes, but to open conversations.

In the recorded podcast, Insights from the Field: A Special “Tea for Teaching” Podcast on Policy, Data, and Inclusive Collaboration, Van Davis, Executive Director & Vice President of WCET and Digital Learning, WICHE, reminded us that learning does not occur through the transmission of content alone, but through relationships built between faculty and students (9:40). From that perspective, data and technology can reveal levels of engagement or comprehension, but they cannot explain why a student is struggling, what motivates them, or what support will help next. Dr. Yakut Gazi, Vice Provost for Learning Innovation and Digital Education at Duke University, extends this idea by describing how data shifts faculty work from simply identifying who needs help to the more impactful human action of reaching out directly to them to ask how they are doing and what they need (21:01).

This principle was illustrated clearly in the presentation Before They Disappear: Tools to Identify and Support New Online Learners. The SUNY Online Student Success Inventory (SOSSI) survey helps to identify early barriers for students, such as time constraints, technology confidence, life circumstances, and mindset challenges. Rather than treating the data as a verdict about student readiness, the panelists emphasized that it serves educators to ask better questions earlier. At SUNY Oswego, Academic Planning Coordinator Sarah Wehrle explained how their team reviews SOSSI results before the first advisement meeting with students to guide initial conversation where they highlight areas of strength and ask questions about potential concerns (28:52). In this way, diagnostics from the survey enable the connection, while advisors provide understanding and tailored support that make early intervention meaningful and learning more effective.

This same concept of data as a starting point, not an endpoint, extends beyond students to the people and systems that support them.

Data to Support Our Work

The Voices of Impact: Distance Learner Leaders Showcase demonstrated how data can support faculty, instructional designers, and related programming.

At Genesee Community College, Director of Online Learning, Judith Littlejohn, described how feedback from annual faculty and student surveys reshaped professional development and led to improvements in the online student experience (8:37). She also underscored the importance of transparency and follow-through, noting, “Feedback is only valuable if it changes practice” (17:21).

At Stony Brook University, Senior Instructional Designer Kristin Hall shared challenges they encountered during a new online course development process (29:32). Though feedback was positive, quantitative and contextual data revealed areas for improvement that will guide refinements in future cohorts to better support their faculty and instructional design team.

At SUNY Farmingdale State College, Director of Distance Learning Brandi So recounted how SUNY data dashboards enabled her to open new conversations with campus stakeholders. This led to justified investments such as an online student concierge, expanded online branding, and new online student activities (49:44).

Where the presenters in Voices of Impact turned data into action on individual campuses, the session Show Me the Data! Tools and Resources for Strategic Decision-Making focused on how data can be scaled across the system. Framed as a puzzle with each metric, definition, and dashboard as a single piece, presenter Viktorya Mirzoyan, Impact Analyst at SUNY Online, described that we only see the full picture when the pieces share the same definitions and governance. “The puzzle pieces fit only if they’re cut from the same pattern,” Mirzoyan noted (4:29), and when they “click,” decision‑making speeds up, and data becomes “a map and a guide” for what to do next (7:46). The session illustrated how common infrastructure turns local insights into a coherent picture that supports faster, coordinated, evidence‑based action to support campuses across the system.

Whether supporting students, improving course design, strengthening faculty support, or guiding institutional strategy, these examples showed how data works best when it connects people to insight and action.

Actions After the Data

Data is not always the conclusion, but can be the beginning to enable informed decisions at multiple levels. Based on ideas shared in the SUNY Online Summit sessions, here are actions to take after reviewing data:

• Ask: What conversation should this data prompt?
• Ask: What might explain this pattern?
• Share: What changed because of feedback and why?
• Share: How has the data been defined?

Used in ways like this, data becomes a connective tool that supports thoughtful, coordinated work across teaching, support, and strategy.

 

Referenced SUNY Online Summit sessions:

CELT Office. (2026, January 9). Insights from the field [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Pld0DHEi0

SUNY Online Teaching. (2026a, March 3). Summit Day 2: Panel – Before They Disappear: Tools to Identify and Support new Online Learners [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCi9ch_4AgM

SUNY Online Teaching. (2026b, March 9). Summit Day 3: Show Me the Data! Tools and Resources for Strategic Decision-Making [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntNYc8z7OyM

SUNY Online Teaching. (2026c, March 9). Summit Day 3: Voices of Impact: SUNY Distance Learning Leaders Showcase [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Q6rTtyRFw