Education Management Information Systems: A Trend to Stay Put
All the organizations have several departments – marketing, sales, finance, hr, and others depending on the companies. To track the information, store, manage, and analyze it and produce relevant reports is an essential task for the people. I’m sure you have heard about the Management Information Systems that help the companies store, integrate, and manage their data as opposed to the traditional tabular raw storage of data. This information is important for the process of decision making. But the process is just so tedious. multiple reports generated on the daily and have to oversee all of them? It sounds like a lot of hassle, right? Well, it doesn’t have to be. MIS solutions deliver relevant information to the respective departments.
But companies are not the only institutions that require this aid. Academic institutions also have a lot of data that needs to be managed, polished, and delivered. To ensure that MIS solutions custom made for the education sector are called Education Management Information Systems (EMIS). Tons of student, teacher, faculty, and management data is collected but isn’t stored and used properly. Records are added, but not maintained which makes them unavailable in the time of need. For example, when a student’s previous year report cards are needed as a part of the verification process to win a scholarship in the next year, if not stored securely in the previous year, it is highly likely that he might lose the scholarship because of the delay in looking for the report cards. With the help of EMIS, this could be done within seconds.
Real-time insights into student data
The higher the number of students, the more student data to record and disseminate. What is the use of this data if it is not even used for the benefit of the students? EMIS solutions are very student centric as student data is quite crucial for the teachers, parents, institution, and students themselves. EMISs not only stores this data, but also provides insights in real-time to it. They are given access to the portal that displays all the information a student might need and facility to easily interpret it. There are times tables displayed, notices and alerts showcased, assessments and attendance reports showed all on one portal. Students can use these insights and to make changes and prepare for the same. Colleges have used this feature to increase the attendance of the students. EMISs are user-friendly and easy to access for students.
Increases Efficiency
Having everything stored on a single database has its perks. It makes it simpler to fetch information regardless of the role or department. If you’re verified and eligible to access the records, you can do so almost immediately. EMIS allows users to create reports using this information. Students can develop SWOT analysis reports and PESTLE reports for themselves and track their performances. They can formulate strategies over time to ensure they are progressing. Teachers can also get access to the same data to analyze their teaching method’s effectiveness on student performances. And management can also access the same data to verify the progress of both- students and teachers. This makes it easier to streamline processes and practices. It also brings in efficiency in the entire system because of its flat approach to accessibility, and total quality management becomes achievable.
Third-party Integration
EMIS allows the integration of third-party solutions to making student learning more beneficial. There are several applications and systems that provide courses for students or some sort of learning aid to the students. The results and activities of which have to be stored and maintained. With the help of EMIS, these solutions can be infused into the system to get better user experience and an end-to-end solution for the students. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning- powered student learning solutions are quite the buzz that is effective as well, can be integrated with the EMIS to produce accurate reports, and establish legitimacy.
Parental Inclusion
One particularly important community member that is often left out of the learning solutions, is parents. Parents are generally not involved in the student-oriented solutions but EMIS doesn’t do so. EMIS has the feature of Parental inclusion that onboards the guardians. Parents are given access to the portal where they can check their child’s progress, be updated about the PTAs, communicate their worries and queries, and use the information to make their child’s life better. These solutions keep the parents up to date with the extensive information which is quite essential for their peace of mind.
Inspection Ready
EMIS solutions can also be web-based which means they can store their crucial information on the cloud. Having a backup on the cloud would mean if there is a loss of data in any form, it can be restored. Cloud-based solutions can make documents, reports, and information available anytime. Sudden inspections of schools and colleges are an act by the management and the government to verify the productivity of the institution. Having everything available only a few clicks away would mean for the institutions to be ready for inspections. It makes the leadership have trust in your institute.
A user-friendly EMIS for any educational institution is imperative in today’s day. An EMIS would help students in having an overview of their performance alongside the teachers having filtered and arranged information. It also means that management has deployed technology to upgrade its institutions. Resources need to be used to their full potential and having an EMIS at the heart of the academic institution will support it to make impactful decisions. Better planning and strategizing can be implemented to commit to flexibility and concentration of resources. EMIS has both short-term and long-term effects on the lives of all the people involved.
