Peeking Inside an Institution

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Peeking Inside an Institutions Planning Toolbox

• Karen A. DeMonte
• Senior Institutional Research Analyst,
  Institutional Research Planning
• University of Delaware
• Heather A. Kelly
• Assistant Director, Institutional Research
  Planning
• University of Delaware
• Allison M. Walters
• Research Analyst, Institutional Research
  Planning
• University of Delaware

Office of Institutional Research Planning
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University of Delaware

• Located in suburban Newark, Delaware midway
  between Philadelphia and Baltimore
• Origins back to 1743, was chartered in 1833

• Public, State Assisted University
• Research University (very high research activity)
• UD offers 126 undergraduate and 121 graduate
  programs in 7 Colleges and 54 Academic units
• Fall 2006 enrollment totaled 15,849 undergraduate
  and 3,446 graduate students
• 1,077 full time faculty members of whom 832 are
  Tenured/Tenure Track (Fall 2005 data)
• On average, 90 of freshmen return sophomore year
  and approximately 3 out of 4 students graduate in
  five years

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Background Objectives

• Support Universitys academic, financial, and
  planning efforts
• Budget Support Notebook
• National Study of Instructional Costs
  Productivity (a.k.a. Delaware Study)
• FIPSE-Funded Analysis of Out-of-Classroom Faculty
  Activity Study (a.k.a. Faculty Activity Study)

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Budget Support Notebook

• Background
• Was developed in 1990 as a means to support
  decisions related to budget cuts and workforce
  reductions
• Has evolved from a series of hand-entered Excel
  spreadsheets to an automated secure web site
• Contains three years of productivity measures to
  help track trends
• Fully integrated Secure Web Site
• Secured to Senior Administrators, Deans, and
  Chairs with open access between departments

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Budget Support NotebookSource Documents

• Faculty Workload Report - examines the teaching
  activity by individual instructor for the Fall
  and Spring semesters
• Expenditures Report - summarizes fiscal year-end
  direct expenditures by unit within the
  Universitys reporting hierarchy
• Charts comparing UD against National Norms from
  the Delaware Study
• Various other University reports

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The notebook is organized by College and
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by Departments within each college
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• Productivity measures
• FTE Majors
• Degrees Granted
• Student Credit Hours Taught by Faculty on
  Appointment
• Student Credit Hours Taught by Supplemental
  Faculty

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• More Productivity measures
• FTE Student Taught
• FTE Faculty
• Student Credit Hours / FTE Faculty
• FTE Student Taught / FTE Faculty

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• Fiscal Data
• Research and Service
• Cost of Instruction
• Revenue Measures (derived)

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Budget Support NotebookWhy We Like It

• Easy to navigate
• Compiles data from several sources into one
  document
• Contains trend data
• Includes charts comparing UD against National
  Norms from the Delaware Study
• Fully accessible by Deans and Chairs for
  comparisons within the University on the web
• Web site contains complete documentation on how
  to interpret the various data elements

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The Delaware Study

• National benchmarking study used to examine
• Teaching loads by faculty classification and
  course level
• Instructional costs
• Externally funded research and service
• all at the discipline level of analysis.
• Over 400 institutional participants since 1996
  including
• Members of Association of American Universities
  Data Exchange (AAUDE).
• Members of the Southern Universities Group (SUG).
• University of Missouri System.
• University of North Carolina System.

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The Delaware StudyData Collection Template
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The Delaware Study Data Results

• Benchmarks provided by
• Carnegie Classification
• Highest Degree Awarded
• Undergraduate/Graduate Program Mix
• Customized Peer Analyses
• Refined means are used to produce the benchmarks.
  
• An initial mean is calculated from the valid
  values for all institutions reporting data for a
  given CIP or discipline, within the benchmark
  category.
• The standard deviation is calculated along with
  the mean.
• Those institutions with values of more than two
  standard deviations above or below the initial
  mean are defined as outliers.
• A 'Refined Mean' is then calculated, excluding
  outliers as defined above.

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Data Detailed as Follows

• Table 1 Percent SCH and OCS by Faculty Category
  within Course Level
• Table 2 Percent SCH and OCS by Course Level
  within Faculty Category
• Table 3 SCH, OCS, and FTE Students per FTE
  Faculty
• Table 4 Instructional Cost Ratios

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Sample Benchmarking
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The Delaware Study - Uses

• Assess department productivity and costs.
• Compare institutional data to national benchmarks
  and/or self-selected peer groups.
• Provides current and longitudinal data for
  departmental planning and resource allocation.

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We invite you to visit the Delaware Study website
http//www.udel.edu/IR/cost
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Is Faculty Work Understood?
National Center for Education Statistics indicate
that full-time faculty at four-year institutions
report they spend approximately one-half of their
time on teaching activities, which includes
approximately 9 hours per week in the classroom
(NCES Cataldi, Bradburn, Fahimi, Zimbler, 2005).
The term work load is often thought to refer to
the time faculty spend in the classroom. However,
work load relates to faculty work and the
numerous associated activities and
responsibilities in and out of the classroom
(Braskamp Ory, 1994).
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Faculty Activity Study - Purpose

• Help alleviate misunderstandings of faculty
  activity by providing information to discuss what
  faculty actually do, how much they do, and the
  associated products.

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Faculty Activity Study - Goal

• Demonstrate faculty outputs that are a result of
  faculty spending time outside the classroom on
  non-instructional activities.
• Teaching (i.e., redesigning course curriculum,
  advising students, or conducting research with
  students)
• Scholarship (i.e., refereed and non-refereed
  publications, editorial positions, juried shows
  and commissioned performances, or grant activity)
• Service (i.e., institutional service, faculty
  extension and outreach activities, or
  professional service).
• The overall goal is to provide evidence regarding
  program productivity, as well as the means to
  encourage more effective management in higher
  education.

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Faculty Activity StudyData Collection Template
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Faculty Activity Study Participants

• 2002 Faculty Activity Study Total of 57
  institutions
• 23 comprehensive institutions (40)
• 20 baccalaureate institutions (35)
• 7 doctoral universities (12)
• 7 research universities (12)
• 29 private institutions (51)
• 28 public institutions (49)

• 2003 Faculty Activity Study Total of 47
  institutions
• 27 comprehensive institutions (57)
• 7 baccalaureate institutions (15)
• 7 doctoral universities (15)
• 6 research universities (13)
• 33 public institutions (70)
• 14 private institutions (30)

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Faculty Activity Study - Results

• Refined means were not calculated for the
  variables owing to the relatively small number of
  participating institutions within each Carnegie
  institution type, and the large variance in data
  responses.
• The large variance for the majority of the
  variables within each Carnegie classification
  makes the median a better statistic to describe
  the central tendency for the sample.

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Activities Related to Teaching
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Activities Related to Scholarship
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Activities Related to Service
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Utilizing theFaculty Activity Study

• Provides contextual information and supplies a
  backdrop for examining DE Studys teaching loads
  and associated costs.
• Institutions experiencing state mandates have
  combined state-mandated elements with the Faculty
  Activity Study variables to develop one
  instrument.
• Institutions have integrated Faculty Activity
  Study variables into their annual review process.
• Data facilitates informed decision-making
  processes.
• Data helpful in answering requests from state
  agencies, as well as other external constituents.

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Faculty Activity Study Conclusion

• The Faculty Activity Study provides evidence that
  faculty engage in activities such as curriculum
  redesign, academic advising, thesis and
  dissertation supervision, academic scholarship,
  and service to the institution, community, and
  profession.
• While institutional mission is reflected by how
  faculty spend their time, regardless of Carnegie
  Classification, faculty engage in teaching,
  scholarship, and service.
• The data collected has the potential to provide
  evidence about program productivity.
• This information will facilitate informed
  decision making and encourage more effective
  management in higher education.

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We invite you to visit the Faculty Activity Study
website
http//www.udel.edu/IR/fipse
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Using the Tools in Practice

• Answer frequently asked questions from Academic
  units
• Academic Program Review
• Departmental request for Customized Peer Studies
• Accreditation
• Supports Resource Allocation Decisions

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Academic Program Review

• IR Provides
• Budget Support Notebook pages
• Delaware Study comparison charts against National
  Norms
• Other standard reports

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Customized Peer Studies

• How do we compare?
• Academic units select their peer group from the
  list of Delaware Study participants

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Accreditation

• Middles States Standard 7
• The institution has developed and implemented an
  assessment plan and process that evaluates its
  overall effectiveness in achieving its mission
  and goals implementing planning, resource
  allocation, and institutional renewal processes
  enhancing institutional integrity and assuring
  that institutional processes and resources
  support appropriate learning and other outcomes
  for its students and graduates.

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Resource Allocation

• Budget Support Notebook provides intra-university
  comparisons of quantitative data
• Delaware Study provides national comparisons of
  quantitative data
• Faculty Activity Study provides analysis of
  qualitative data

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Questions and Comments
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Thank you!http//www.udel.edu/IR

• Karen A. DeMonte, kdemonte_at_udel.edu
• Heather A. Kelly, hkelly_at_udel.edu
• Allison M. Walters, awalters_at_udel.edu