Discussion: “Big data” includes large, complex, diverse, and unstructured collections of data sets that cannot be easily parsed with common tools. These massive data sets are gathered by a range of technologies, including mobile devices. As data sets grow in size, so too must our ability and capacity to capture, store, analyze, search, visualize, and share information in its ever-increasing volume, variety, velocity, and complexity.
523 Inspiration: How big is big data to education? Along with its younger siblings—data mining, data visualization, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and learning analytics—big data is one of the most influential frontiers in education. One of the most compelling aspects of big data is its reach: this bird’s eye view of information is increasingly (re)shaping knowledge and knowledge production, technology and application development, education as a field of practice and research, and how public and private sectors seek to improve education as well as address its problems and challenges, both locally and internationally.