Survey About BIM, Space Planning, and Renovations

Click here to take the survey.
The purpose of this survey is to gauge the level of knowledge and use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the management of facilities at colleges and universities, with a particular focus on Space Planning and Renovations. SCUP is assisting graduate student research by asking you to complete this survey. Its results will be shared on SCUP's website.
It should not take more than 10–15 minutes to complete the three-part instrument. The last part of the survey will provide you an opportunity to share comments.

Click here to take the survey.

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 14–16: Baltimore, MD
• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA

Results of Survey of SCUP Members Regarding Social Media Use

SCUP has recently concluded a survey of its members with regard to their use of social media. A number of respondents expressed an interest in the results, so we're sharing them here, via the graphic image below. A total of 1,143 SCUPers completed the survey. In "public" social media, btw, SCUP currently has a presence in these places:

• A Facebook page;
• A LinkedIn Group;
• A Twitter stream @SCUPNews.

If you have an account on any of those venues, please consider Following SCUP on Twitter, Joining SCUP on LinkedIn, or becoming a Fan on Facebook. Each of these places are opportunities to network and collaborate with colleagues virtually. (Just set your privacy settings wisely, easy to do.) Each is also a uniquely different way to understand SCUP's "activity stream."

More Than 2/3 of SCUP Members

Have at Last One "Public" Social Media Account

Of Those Who Do*, More Than 70%

Use Either Facebook or LinkedIn, or Both

* Your blogger was astonished that 14 percent of SCUP members had Twitter accounts. Please, everyone, "follow" us @SCUPNews!

Nearly Half Use Social Media Only for Personal Purposes

The Majority of SCUP Members

Spend Only One Hour or Less a Week Using Social Media

Here is a summary of the survey results. If you click on the image you should be able to view a larger one.

Two-thirds of Public Universities Undertaking Strategic Review of Core Activities Following 2009 Budget Cuts, APLU Survey Reveals

The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (now known as APLU) has released the results of its survey of member institutions, which are large, public institutions. Its report on the survey is titled Coping Strategics of Public Universities During the Economic Recession of 2009. (Since it officially began in 2007, we think it should be titled The Economic Recession of 2007-2010, but . . . what the heck.) The APLU says:

Strategic reviews of core activities are underway or planned by two-thirds of the nation’s public research universities according to a survey of chief academic officers by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (A۰P۰L۰U). The survey focused on depth of budget cuts, strategies to close deficits, and impact on institutions and students at the nation’s 188 public research universities.

The full report on the survey is here.

Here's a report in the APLU's online newsletter, Public Voice, here's a direct link to the entire survey. Here's a summary of the survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education's Eric Kelderman and here's a summary by Inside Higher Ed's Jack Stripling. Jack wrote:

While the survey suggests that some hard choices have already been made by public universities, the long-term solutions indicate universities are still more apt to conduct further reviews than announce permanent changes at this point. Indeed, 67 percent of respondents said they plan a strategic review of administrative structures, compared with just 22 percent that said they plan to permanently change staffing levels for tenured and tenure-track faculty.

MANAGING ONLINE EDUCATION: The 2009 WCET-Campus Computing Project Survey of Online Education (22 Oct 2009)

This survey contains more than can be summarized here, but you should go download the executive summary and possibly watch the archived webcast. The bottom line is that online education programs are marked by:

• Rising Enrollments,
• Unsure Profits,
• Organizational Transitions, and
• Higher Fees, and Tech Training for Faculty

The full abstract for the survey report is:

Enrollments are up and rising, profits are often uncertain, and organizational arrangements are in transition according to a new national survey of senior campus officials responsible for managing online and distance education programs conducted by WCET and The Campus Computing Project. Additionally, the new survey data suggest that students enrolled in online programs may pay higher fees than their on-campus counterparts, that many campuses have mandatory training on their faculty before sending them “into the web” to teach online courses, and that quality still looms as a large question for online education programs.

Three questions about enrollments indicate that campuses participating in the survey have experienced healthy gains in good economic times and bad – and that campus officials expect enrollments in their online programs to continue to rise in the coming years. Fully 94 percent of the survey respondents – typically the senior campus officer responsible for online or distance education programs – report enrollment gains in their online programs between 2006 and 2009; almost half (48 percent) report online enrollments rose by 15 percent or more during this period. Similarly, asked about past year numbers (fall 2008 vs. fall 2009), 95 percent report rising enrollment in their online programs; almost two-fifths (38 percent) report a one-year gain in online enrollments of 15 percent or better. Finally, when asked to project enrollments in their online programs over the next three years (2009-2011), 98 percent of the institutions participating in the survey affirm enrollment gains: almost half (47 percent) expect online enrollments grow by 15 percent or more over the next three years.

For more information, please download the accompanying PDF copy of the executive summary and the handout from the WCET Conference presentation on October 22nd. Also available below is the video webcast of the WCET conference presentation.

EDUCAUSE Top Ten IT Issues, 2009

What a surprise, "Funding IT" is the top issue in campus technology in 2009: 

These are very trying economic times for higher education institutions. Diving endowments, hiring freezes, and budget cuts are the main topics of executive focus and discussion. Not surprisingly, the economic downturn overshadowed many of this year's top-ten issues, with the current focus on fiscal conservatism reflected in this year's #1 issue for IT leaders: Funding IT.

Funding IT will be a challenge for most higher education IT organizations as they grapple with fiercely competing budget priorities in the process of overall institutional budgets being reduced. But during these difficult economic times, IT will have the opportunity to show its worth to the institution by being able to create and/or enhance organizational effectiveness and efficiencies while realizing cost savings. These cost savings may be accomplished through a variety of methods and in a variety of areas.

Survey and Questionaire Tutorial

Yep, we know everyone thinks they know how to write a survey or a questionaire. It's like "marketing," which everyone also thinks they know how to do.

What are the important factors to consider when designing a survey? Would it be best conducted via telephone? Or would it be better to have a face-to-face meeting? These are but a few of the topics covered on this site created as a public service by the StatPac group. Visitors can elect to download the entire report on survey design here, or they can just click through the topics that interest them. Each topic includes a brief discussion of its relative importance, and the areas covered include questionnaire length, time considerations, question wording, and sampling methods. It's a thoughtful and helpful resource overall, and it's one that might be put to good use in an introductory statistics course in college. [KMG]

Copyright 2009 Internet Scout Project - http://scout.wisc.edu

Ask Good Questions by Starting with Key Decisions

The "blurb" on this article reads, "The most effective data-collection efforts build on a clear understanding of the decisions the data should inform." Sure. Deborah Keyek-Franssen and Charlotte Briggs write about this with regard to technology needs assessment, but their lessons learned are useful for all campus responsibilities:

Conducting a campus-wide needs assessment is a lot of work. Starting with clear goals and a good plan vastly increases the probability that the assessment will go smoothly and yield genuinely useful information. Although front-loading your team’s time and energy into the initial planning phase might feel overly bureaucratic or academic, it pays off later when you can return to your overarching decision question and tacit principles as touchstones in moments of disagreement or doubt. Every institution is different—there would be little impetus for needs assessments otherwise—so it’s important to align your plan with your institution’s mission and strategic plan. You also need to be realistic about how technology is viewed in relation to the institution’s identity and aspirations. Planning a needs assessment for an institution that can’t afford to innovate is very different from planning an assessment for an institution that showcases its technology as a prime indicator of its competitiveness.

APPA's Facilities Performance Indicators Survey

The time is now for facilities managers to participate in this year's survey. Previous surveys are available for purchase on the APPA website and summary reports for 2005-06 and 2006-07 are available at no charge. Access is also available to a series of webinars about the FPI report and dashboards.

APPA's Facilities Performance Indicators Survey is an annual collection and reporting of data related to educational facilities and an integrated research information database. Developed and produced by APPA's Information and Research Committee, the Facilities Performance Indicators Survey takes a comprehensive look at facilities operating costs, staffing levels and expenses, building and space costs and usage, strategic financial measures, and much more.

Campus Environment 2008: A National Report Card on Sustainability in Higher Education - Trends and New Developments in Leadership, Academics and Opera

SCUP was a sponsor of the survey research behind this new report, which examines sustainability attitudes and practices in a way that compares to the first, related research performed seven years ago:

The NWF Report Card is the Gold Standard for charting the sustainability movement in higher education. Coverage of both operational and academic programs is particularly important. Strongly recommended reading for administrators, faculty and students," said David W. Orr, professor of Environmental Studies and senior advisor to the president, Oberlin College. He is also the author of Earth in Mind, Ecological Literacy, The Last Refuge, and Design on the Edge.

This comprehensive study by National Wildlife Federation and Princeton Survey Research Associates International reviews trends and new developments in environmental performance and sustainability at 1,068 institutions. It recognizes colleges and universities for exemplary efforts and awards academic letter grades (A through D) for collective, national performance on environmental literacy, energy, water, transportation, landscaping, waste reduction and more. The report analyzes collective trends in the areas of management, operations, and academics.

With 27 percent (more than one quarter) of U.S. colleges (presidents, administrators, and facilities managers) responding, the 2008 survey is the nation's largest study to date created to gauge trends and new developments in campus sustainability. It was also the first study of its kind when conducted in 2001.

Assessing Learning and Scholarly Technologies: Lessons from an Institutional Survey

Writing in EDUCAUSE Quarterly, Cara Lane and Greg Yamashiro describe the methodology, results, and lessons-learned of a large-scale survey of a variety of constituents on the University of Washington campus regarding technology needs, attitudes, and adoption:

The UW survey findings represent just one component of what we learned, however. We also discovered the opportunities and challenges inherent in conducting large-scale, committee-based research. We believe the circumstances we encountered during the survey process resemble those other institutions have faced or will face in similar endeavors, and in this article we share the lessons learned. While some of these lessons include research findings, the majority involve the implications of the methodologies selected and the decisions made.

We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches we used to determine the focus of our survey, to define technology within the survey, and to select a sample of the UW population. We conclude with a description of how we applied what we learned to the development of our 2008 Faculty, Teaching Assistant, and Student Surveys on Learning and Scholarly Technologies, which, at the time of this writing, are being distributed to the UW community.