The ALSET Data Lake: A repository of educational data ready for research use.
We manage the ALSET Data Lake (ADL), an exciting resource for education researchers, policymakers, and innovators. The ADL securely houses data gathered from across the university. This includes campus IT systems, student surveys, research study results, and much more.
Launched in 2016, the ADL now includes anonymised data on over 300,000 NUS students and alumni. The extent of our data is growing all the time—the image below shows the available datasets and those that we are working to incorporate into our ADL in the next 12 months.
To request access to the current data catalogue, please click here.
For education and training purposes, we also maintain synthetic datasets that mimic the structure and content of the ADL. To make a request to view the documentation about our synthetic datasets, please click here.
Data Collection and Policy Analysis
To continuously grow the ADL, ALSET manages several longitudinal data collection efforts that yield insights into how NUS undergraduates learn over their academic careers and perform in the workforce. Many of these projects are long-term investments in establishing NUS as a global hub for educational research.
One important use case of the ADL is the evaluation of key educational policies at NUS, such as the recent NUS Lifelong Learners Programme, an ambitious initiative that renders student enrolment at NUS as valid for 20 years from the point of admission. The ADL allows NUS researchers to follow how its students and alumni learn throughout their lifetimes—not just during their university years. This is an unprecedented opportunity to optimise the long-term impact the university has on its students.
Data Governance and Ethics
NUS and ALSET are committed to ensuring that data provided through the ADL is protected and used ethically. In addition to ALSET, data management, access, and usage is governed by two bodies—the Learning, Analytics and Data Advisory Board and the Learning and Analytics Committee on Ethics (LACE). Their respective responsibilities are outlined in the chart below.
ALSET continually works with stakeholders from across NUS—including faculty, students, and advisors—to update its data ethics and data management policies and processes. Please contact us if you have any questions or comments about our data.
Data Operations
The ADL is co-managed by NUS IT and the respective responsibilities are outlined in the chart below.
