My presentation for the University of Exeter's "Meet the Experts" Career Panels Day, June 2016.

1. Data Transformation
Dance scholar to research manager.
Caitlin E McDonald, PhD
Data, Research & Insights Manager, TES Global
https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlinmcdonald

2. TES Global at a glance
Supporting educators for over
100 years
World’s biggest network of
educators at over
8 million
Home to gold standard in
global university
rankings
600 staff
in UK, US and Australia
Jobs
Supply teachers
Resources
News
Teacher Training
News
Jobs
Rankings data
A digital education
company helping
teachers, schools
and universities
succeed

3. 5 years ago
Came to TES almost 5 years
ago after finishing my PhD.
Moved teams 3 times,
became more technical
with each move.
2 years ago
TES’s digital transition:
new CTO, new approach,
new product strategies.
1 year ago
Resources Marketplace:
understand the data structure, strategy
and performance, user behaviour, and
the TES company culture inside out.
(...)
About me

4. It felt like…

5. Why are anthropologists good at data?
How do we know what is meaningful?
Once we know what is meaningful, how
do we measure it?
Do we have the right data? If not, how
do we get it?
Context.

6. New product, new stack, new data pipeline
Company
TES Global is the leading
professional network for
educators in the UK and
around the world.
Over 8 million registered
members in 279 countries
and territories.
Context
● Moved from a free-
only to a free +
premium ecosystem
● ...While switching our
stack from .Net to
node.js.
● {Data}: changed from
SQL Server to
MongoDB/Redshift.
Product Goals
● Continue to delight
teachers with free
content for their
classrooms.
● Encourage teachers
to earn money for
top-quality content
they develop and
share.

7. Insight vs ‘Data’
Simplify, simplify.
When there is more data than ever
available, we can lose focus on our
simple goals:
● Continue to delight teachers with
free content for their classrooms.
● Encourage teachers to earn money
for top-quality content they
develop and share.
Learning to apply the right numbers
at the right time is the key.
Challenge: insight

8. Defining product strategy from
behaviour
○ Was true shortly after premium
marketplace launch
○ Changing behaviour: now Tue &
Wed attract most buyers
○ Lower volume days (Fri & Sat) have
higher sales vol per buyer
○ Teachers express a strong sense of
community through using the site
Conclusion: focus on
● Collections & author shops
● recommendations
● internal search
● ‘lean’ marketing
● Assumption: Sunday night = homework night (for teachers too)

9. ● Forlani, Paolo, Ferando Bertelli and Giacomo Gastaldi. “Vniversale descrittione di tvtta la terra conoscivta fin qvi.”
Library of Congress. Approx 1565. https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3200.mf000070/
● Dlinear blog. “Map Tool: Terra Incognita”. June 2015. https://dlinear.net/2015/06/07/map-tool-terra-incognita/
● http://gmworldmap.com/#2098315610:2148566950:32768

10. Thank you!
Caitlin E McDonald, PhD
Data, Research & Insights Manager, TES Global
https://www.linkedin.com/in/caitlinmcdonald