Following is a Q&A with Craig Umland, a student with the Learning Analytics master’s program (LAMP) who plans to graduate in the spring of 2025. Umland previously earned a BA in liberal studies from UW–Whitewater in 2013.
How did you become interested in pursuing a master’s in this field?
Umland: After graduating from college, I intended to eventually become a teacher. I started my education career as an internal substitute and operations support staff at a high school in Philadelphia. However, I quickly learned that I was lacking important components of the essential teaching skill set. Instead, I continued working as an operations and data manager, and I received training and mentorship from some excellent analytical leaders. As I continued down my career trajectory in educational data, I found that I was learning data analytics on the job, but I was craving opportunities to learn more.
How did you decide that UW–Madison was the right place to pursue this degree?
Umland: I began looking into master’s degree programs — not necessarily learning analytics, but similar (e.g. statistics, measurement, assessment and research technology MSEd at Penn) — as I was finding my occupational niche in the Philadelphia education scene. In 2022, my wife and I ended up moving to Madison, and I took a role at the Verona Area School District as the student information systems specialist. As we were preparing to move to Madison, I found the LAMP website and was intrigued. After arriving in Madison and getting settled, I reached out for more information, and next thing I knew, I was enrolled in the 2025 cohort.
The irony is not lost on me that I joined a fully remote UW–Madison program as I moved to Madison, but I’m honestly not sure I would have found this program had I not been physically moving to Madison.
What has been your most meaningful experience with the Learning Analytics program?
Umland: This is hard to boil down into one experience. I’ve learned so much. Educational Psychology 501: Thinking and Learning laid the theoretical groundwork; Educational Psychology 560: Foundations in Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods expanded on that framework; Educational Psychology 525: Learning Analytics Theory and Practice and EP 551: Quantitative Ethnography, introduced educational data mining and quantitative ethnography, respectively. And now, EP 575: Instructional Design for Learning Analytics and EP 615: Conversations and Visualizations have been incredibly relevant to my day-to-day work in the Verona district — instructional design (at least for leading adult PDs) and data visualization and communication are two key facets of my job.
But I will say that the first fall semester — with EP 560 — was intensely meaningful. That class was packed with foundational material, and I was forced to stretch myself in a lot of ways to submit the final two papers — a qualitative research study and a quantitative study. (It didn’t make things easier that my first child was born that November, as well). I was extremely close to throwing in the towel at points in that semester, but with support from Dr. Kelsey Schenck I was able to get across the finish line. I now look back on that semester as a major source of pride — I sometimes don’t know how I got through it, but I was able to do research work that I would have never thought I’d be able to do, and the training through that semester has been foundational for the rest of my LAMP experience.
What class or professor had the greatest impact on you, and why?
Umland: EP 525: Learning Analytics Theory and Practice had an impact on my career as we were learning how to use the data science platform RapidMiner and I found a use case for cluster analysis at my job. The timing was impeccable, and I was able to use what I had learned no more than two weeks earlier to run cluster analysis in service of my school district. This really drove home the point that this Learning Analytics program is a perfect fit for me and my career goals.
What are your future goals or plans?
Umland: I have been happy in my role with the Verona Area School District. I’ve been continuously challenged and supported throughout my time there. My role has evolved over the two years I’ve been there, and I intend to continue to grow in my professional practice as an educator, while continuing to use the skills, ways of thinking, and experiences I’ve gained through the Learning Analytics program.