Exploring Text Analytics of College of Charleston Admissions Essays to Enhance Student Awareness of Experimental Learning Opportunities
School Name
South Carolina Governor's School for Science & Mathematics
Grade Level
12th Grade
Presentation Topic
Computer Science
Presentation Type
Mentored
Abstract
The college experience today is an inefficient and costly process. According to the Washington Post, "[only] 27 percent of college grads had a job related to their major" (Plumer, 2013). CNBC also published that 40 percent of graduates take a job not requiring a degree (Nova, 2018). If a system was created to match an applicant or student with experiential learning opportunities at their university, such as in the form of research or advanced study outside of the classroom, this situation could be improved. These problems sparked this research which used Microsoft Power BI and Azure Text Analytics for essay review. Power BI is an analytics program that analyzes data and creates visuals for better review. In this research, the uses of Microsoft Power BI were combined with Microsoft Azure, a set of cloud computing services, specifically using Azure's Text Analytics Application Programing Interface. This was used for two functions- key phrase extraction and sentiment analysis. To do this, applicant essays were uploaded from the College of Charleston to Power BI in an Excel spreadsheet, then editing the queries and functions within Power BI to include a code that ran the functions. The result showed the key phrases and a sentiment score for each essay. Using this data, a university could create a summary of students' interests and passions that could connect them to opportunities from the start of an individual's college career.
Recommended Citation
Shaughnessy, Charles, "Exploring Text Analytics of College of Charleston Admissions Essays to Enhance Student Awareness of Experimental Learning Opportunities" (2020). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 179.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2020/all/179
Location
Furman Hall 109
Start Date
3-28-2020 11:45 AM
Presentation Format
Oral Only
Group Project
No
Exploring Text Analytics of College of Charleston Admissions Essays to Enhance Student Awareness of Experimental Learning Opportunities
Furman Hall 109
The college experience today is an inefficient and costly process. According to the Washington Post, "[only] 27 percent of college grads had a job related to their major" (Plumer, 2013). CNBC also published that 40 percent of graduates take a job not requiring a degree (Nova, 2018). If a system was created to match an applicant or student with experiential learning opportunities at their university, such as in the form of research or advanced study outside of the classroom, this situation could be improved. These problems sparked this research which used Microsoft Power BI and Azure Text Analytics for essay review. Power BI is an analytics program that analyzes data and creates visuals for better review. In this research, the uses of Microsoft Power BI were combined with Microsoft Azure, a set of cloud computing services, specifically using Azure's Text Analytics Application Programing Interface. This was used for two functions- key phrase extraction and sentiment analysis. To do this, applicant essays were uploaded from the College of Charleston to Power BI in an Excel spreadsheet, then editing the queries and functions within Power BI to include a code that ran the functions. The result showed the key phrases and a sentiment score for each essay. Using this data, a university could create a summary of students' interests and passions that could connect them to opportunities from the start of an individual's college career.
